


The Hardest of Hearts

by RedesignxRebuildxReclaim



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, Comfort/Angst, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Implied Relationships, Jealousy, Past Relationship(s), Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2018-11-14 22:31:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11217579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedesignxRebuildxReclaim/pseuds/RedesignxRebuildxReclaim
Summary: Charlotte "Charlie" Jagger is a new hire for the WWE in the Hair/Makeup department. She’s nervous and shy at first but is taken under Tyler Breeze's wing so to speak and introduced to all of his friends who she becomes good friends with right away. Except one: Seth Rollins. At the start he's a bit too arrogant and aggressive about flirting with her which puts her off. After an apology she gives him a chance and they do grow to become very good friends. When she begins to fall for him she’s forced to confront her own past and whether or not she wants to push him away or see if they really do have something like their friends love to tease them about. Slow burn





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For this story I'm treating it as a semi AU story where the roster for RAW is as I see fit and not accurate to the current roster and I will be calling the wrestlers by their wrestling names rather than their real life names.

Charlotte Jagger looked up at the large arena that would be hosting Monday Night Raw the following night. She took a deep breath, trying to fight feeling overwhelmed at the sight of it.

It was always nerve-wracking starting a new job, but starting a job as a stylist for the WWE had that extra level of intimidation to it. This wasn't an ordinary job or an ordinary employer. This was a really big deal, and she didn't want to blow it.

When she finally worked up the nerve to walk inside a tall woman with blonde hair met her gaze and waved her down. "Are you Charlotte?"

"I am, it's very nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you as well." The woman's light brown eyes were warm and welcoming, and set Charlotte slightly more at ease. "I'm Amy, I'm the head of the Hair and Makeup department here, and I'll be the one overseeing you in your new position." Amy cast her a friendly smile, "So are you excited?"

"I'm so excited" Charlotte nodded enthusiastically, "Also pretty nervous."

"Oh, don't be nervous. Everyone here is great, it's like one big crazy family. You're going to love it."

"I'm sure I will."

"Come on, I'll show you around so you can get an idea of how everything will usually be set up. Obviously it'll vary a bit from arena to arena, but we try to keep it as close as possible for uniformity."

Charlotte listened attentively as she followed her around. There were people running around everywhere getting everything set up perfectly for Raw the following night.

Amy explained that most of the wrestlers had the rest of the day off to work out or relax before the taping tomorrow. Apparently they'd already come in bright and early to run through everything again and make sure everyone was on the same page.

Charlotte was glad that she didn't have to worry about meeting all of them at once. She was already beyond nervous to have to meet them all, so she'd rather not have to in a huge group of them. "Sounds like today is a good day to start and get my bearings."

"Yeah, I didn't want to just throw you to the wolves." Amy laughed, "I did put together a packet of all the wrestler's usual look styles and typical styling requirements for you to study and have as a tool until you get everything down. Obviously they don't get the same exact look every show but we usually stick to the same similar style for continuity unless someone is getting a heel or face turn."

"I appreciate that. I promise to study it and work really hard for you."

"I'm not worried, I know you will. As soon as we saw your portfolio we knew we had to have you here. We were all really impressed."

"Well I'm really excited to be here, thank you so much." Charlotte could still hardly believe she was here. She only submitted an application and portfolio because her best friend back home Jess had made her. She had seen a post that the WWE was hiring and when she'd seen they needed people for the style department she'd practically begged Charlotte to apply.

Charlotte was sure she had no chance at actually getting the job, but her portfolio had wowed them just like her teacher from school had promised. And now here she was, part of the WWE team, and she'd get to travel all over the world with them doing hair and makeup for the superstars.

"If anyone gives you a hard time send them my way." Amy's smile gave away that she was mostly joking. She gave Charlie the last part of their tour, finally around their actual work area. She explained how they set up each section, and tried to keep things as similar as possible in each town to keep things running smoothly.

"Most of the guys just get oil control spray so they won't look so shiny on camera from sweat and we typically spray down their hair if they wear it wet and make sure it looks nice. Most of them also get hair cuts or beard trims weekly or bi weekly and the occasional color service." Charlotte nodded as she took in all of the information. It seemed simple enough when it came to them.

"The woman all get their own signature style of looks, both in hair and makeup styling. The girls with the bright hair colors usually get them touched up every week, and their roots touched up every two weeks. Honestly it's always busy back here and we're always having a lot of fun."

Amy looked down at a clipboard she was carrying around. "Speaking of, one of our male wrestlers should be done getting his color touch up and is getting his hair cut right about now if you'd like to watch before you get to go home for the day."

"Yeah, I'd love to." Charlotte was eager to get a glimpse of what it would actually be like working with the wrestlers. "Which wrestler is it?"

"Tyler Breeze, he's the only one scheduled to get anything done today. he just needs his undercut touched up every other week once he gets his blonde touched up."

"That sounds great." Charlotte knew who he was from when she would watch Raw or their pay per view events with Jess. He was a really fun wrestler to watch, and his gimmick was being a metrosexual type of guy so it made sense he wouldn't want a grown out undercut or grown out hair color.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to him and one of our other stylists, Alexis." She led her to a different room where a girl with neon blue and green hair was sectioning Tyler's hair up on top of his head so she could touch up his shave.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt but I wanted to introduce you both to our new employee, Charlotte." Both of them looked up and Tyler smiled at her and gave her a tiny wave. "Charlotte this is Lexi, she's one of our lead stylists, and this is Tyler."

Charlotte waved and smiled at them both, "It's really nice to meet you both."

"I like your hair" Tyler motioned to her long dark brown to bright purple ombre. She had just retouched the color before she flew out here, so it was nice and bright.

"Thank you, I like yours too. I'm a fan of the undercut."

"It'll look even better once Lexi, works her magic and freshens it up."

"Tyler is one of our favorites back here. He's always flattering us with compliments." Tyler laughed as Lexi said that and shook his head. "So have you done many men's cuts?" Lexi turned her focus back to Charlotte.

"Actually hair color and men's cutting are my two favorite things to do when it comes to hair."

"That's awesome, we do a lot of both here, so you'll love it." Lexi picked up her clippers and tilted Tyler's head down. She knocked out his cut and taper quickly and brushed him off. "You're all set Breezy." She took off his cape and let his hair down.

"Thanks Lexi." He smiled and handed her a tip, "It's perfect like always."

"Any time, you know that." Lexi answered, thanking him and getting started cleaning everything up. Tyler turned his attention back to Charlotte "So I know it's probably intimidating being new so if you want to, me and some of the others are going out to get drinks tonight. You should come and I'll introduce you."

"Are you sure I wouldn't be imposing. I don't want you to feel like you have to do that." It was a really kind offer, and she knew it would be a much more low pressure way to meet some of them. But she didn't want him feeling like he had to invite her just because he had happened to be introduced to her today.

"No way, it's not imposing. You're part of the team now, come hang out." Tyler grinned at her and she could tell he was genuinely as nice as he seemed. "Do they have you at the hilton?"

"Yeah."

"Perfect, meet me in the lobby at seven. You and I can go grab a bite to eat so you can at least get to know me and feel more comfortable before you meet all of the other weirdos I call my friends here."

"That sounds great." Charlotte knew she had to respond. It was really kind of him to offer that and take her under his wing, and it sounded like a lot of fun.

"I'll probably see you tonight too." Lexi added in, "I'll buy you a drink and get you welcomed to this madhouse properly."

Charlotte was already feeling more comfortable knowing the people she'd be with so often were so friendly. "I can't wait. I'll definitely see you later then."

"See you at seven" tyler ran a hand through his blonde hair, and waved to each of them as he left.

"Come on, I'll get you that packet and I'll let you enjoy the rest of your day." Amy led her to catering where they could sit down and talk. She slid her a thick wire bound book of the wrestler's looks with some notes about them.

"So what do you think?"

"I think this is crazy and I can't wait to get started. I'm really excited."

"Good. It's a lot of work, but we're a strong team and I have total faith in you. We'll get you started nice and slow tomorrow, and work you into the more fast paced schedule over time."

Charlotte was glad to hear they weren't going to expect her to be balls to the wall on her first night. "I think we'll have you do Sasha Banks hair and makeup tomorrow and a few of the guys and during down time you can assist or watch some of the other artists work."

"That sounds great." Charlotte met Amy's eyes "Thank you so much for this opportunity. I promise I won't let you guys down."

"You're welcome, and I know you won't." Amy held out her hand. "I'm excited to see you work tomorrow. You're free to go though for now."

Charlotte shook her hand and gathered her purse and the book of their looks before heading out. She knew she had a while before she had to get ready to meet Tyler so she set herself to studying up on the different looks until then. The last thing she wanted to do was look unprepared and unprofessional on her first day tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlotte stared at her reflection in the full length mirror on the back of her hotel room door, giving herself the once over before she had to meet Tyler downstairs.

She didn't want to go overboard so she had settled with a pair of tight black ripped jeans and a loose low cut black t-shirt with a strappy bralette underneath. The straps cris-crossed across her chest and added a sexier touch to her plain t-shirt. She had curled her hair and done a smokey look for her eyes to give her that extra bit of confidence she always got when she had on darker eye makeup.

She looked casual but cute, but kept worrying that she would still be too overdone. What if they were all super dressed down and she just looked like she was trying too hard?

She knew she just had to suck it up and force herself out of her comfort zone. She couldn't back out now without seeming like a jerk so she knew she just had to go out and channel her usual outgoing self.

She put on her favorite black patent Dr. Martens ankle boots and slipped her ID, room key, and credit card into her phone case and put her phone in her back pocket before heading down to meet him.

When she got to the lobby he was waiting for her in one of the chairs decorating the lobby. "Hey" his face lit up as he saw her. "You look great." He complimented her for the second time that day.

"You do too." She answered nervously, her voice wavering. He did look good. He was wearing a light grey v-neck and a tight pair of dark blue jeans. "Thanks again for inviting me out tonight."

"No problem" He waved away her thanks, "stop thanking people and focus on having fun."

"Okay" Charlotte laughed, a small smile playing at her lips. "So where do you want to go grab this bite to eat?"

"There's a really good burger place nearby if you're okay with that. I don't know if you're a vegetarian or something."

"I'm not, so that sounds awesome."

"They have these fries topped with cheddar beer cheese that are the best. I always try to stop there when we're in Orlando."

"I definitely have to try those." Charlotte replied. She felt surprisingly at ease with Tyler. He was just a really friendly open person. He didn't seem stuck up or full of himself like she had been worried the superstars might be. "You guys had to live here for quite a while when you were all in NXT right?"

He looked surprised by her knowing that and nodded, "I was. A lot of us started out in NXT and came up to the WWE at similar times so us wrestlers are all really close."

"So is it like a mini homecoming for you guys when you come back here on tour?"

"Kind of... in a weird way." He trailed off as he thought about it. "I mean, it's different than when we actually get to go home. Because we don't get to go home that often, so it's always a special thing when we get to."

He paused, his expression giving away the thought he was putting into his answer. "But Orlando was special for a lot of us too, so it's always kind of nice and nostalgic being back here. Actually this burger place was mine and one of my best friends Xavier Woods favorite spot to go when we were in NXT together."

"I'm excited to try it. If it's half as good as you say it is it'll be amazing."

Tyler laughed, his face radiant with happiness as he met her eyes. "So tell me about you Charlotte." He motioned to a restaurant and opened the door for her so she could walk in before him.

It was a really cute small restaurant with rock n roll and heavy metal posters and art all over the walls. He motioned to the girl at the door that it was just the two of them and she seated them at a small booth towards the back of the seating area.

"You can call me Charlie, I hate when people call me Charlotte. It sounds so prim and proper."

He nodded, a small quirk of an amused smile on his face. "Okay so you're not a prim and proper kind of girl. You'll fit right in here."

"Good to know." Charlie giggled at his amused expression. "So what else do you want to know? My back story is probably nowhere near as exciting as yours."

"Don't say that." He shook his head at her, "Mine's not that crazy either. I'm just a kid from Canada who worked hard and got lucky."

Charlie was at a loss of what to say and shrugged. "I just always loved makeup and hair so I knew I wanted to go to cosmetology school. But no one wanted me to, so I tried out a bunch of other stuff I hated and gave up on all of that. So when I moved to Austin I took the plunge and got a job as an assistant in a salon and went to school at night for it."

"So how did you end up here?"

"My best friend and roommate in Austin, Jess, actually loves wrestling. And she's like my biggest fan and is always pushing me to do more so she saw they were hiring stylists and made me apply." Charlie laughed as she remembered how hard her friend pushed for her to apply.

"I enjoyed wrestling and watched it with her every once in a while so I thought it would be amazing to be able to be a part of that and travel around. But I never thought I'd actually get the job to be totally honest."

"Well congratulations, you're in for a wild ride as part of this business."

"I wouldn't want anything different." Charlie bit her lip and nodded. "I honestly didn't love being in a salon because it was so stagnant so I really think in a weird way this will be much more my style."

A cute waitress with her hair red hair braided up into a mohawk style greeted them, apologizing for interrupting. "Welcome back Tyler" She greeted him warmly, "Let me guess" She paused and pretended to think hard "You want the Iron Maiden burger and the beer cheese fries."

"You know me too well at this point." He licked his lips before smiling and stood up, giving her a quick hug. "How have you been?"

"I'm great, it's good to see you again though. No Xavier this time huh?"

"We're meeting up with him later actually."

"Well make sure you tell him I said hi." She pretended to pout, "You guys are my favorites."

"I'll tell him, I promise." Tyler agreed, "You know you're our favorite waitress right back Lindsay."

"Sure I am" She shot back with a smile. "I'm sure you say that to all of the waitresses you see." She turned her attention to Charlie and smiled a friendly smile "Do you need more time to look over the menu?"

"I do, I'm sorry." Charlie realized she hadn't even looked at the menu yet because she'd been talking to Tyler since they got in the restaurant.

"Don't worry, he gets the same thing every time so it's easy for him. Take your time. Can I get either of you something to drink?"

"I'll take a Zombie Dust if you have any." Tyler answered after glancing at the beer menu for a second.

"We do for once, I'll go grab you one."

"I'll just have a water for now." Charlie didn't really love to drink beer, so she had no idea what to try from the extensive beer list.

"sounds good, I'll grab them for you both."

"I'll let you focus on the menu for a minute" Tyler motioned to her menu. He leaned back getting comfortable in the booth seat.

She looked it over, studying the various heavy metal themed burgers. "I think I might get the Plague Bringer."

"It's a good one. That's actually Xavier's favorite."

"Okay, well I'll go with that, and I'll get the beer cheese fries also."

"You _have_ to, otherwise this blooming friendship is over."

"Well I don't want that."

"Don't tell me you're just going to get a glass of water."

"I don't really drink beer." Charlie cringed in embarrassment, "I'm lame like that."

"They have a full bar too." Tyler teased "You have to drink something. We're partying tonight and celebrating our weekly night off and it's your first night. You have to pre game a little bit."

"You order for me. I trust you."

"You barely know me." He answered immediately, his eyebrow arching humorously.

"You just seem like a trustworthy kind of dude."

"It's my raw beauty, it blinds you to my true nature." He answered sarcastically.

"That must be it." Charlie couldn't contain her giggle at his comment and accompanying goofy smile.

Lindsay came back and Tyler ordered their food and ordered her an apple pear cider, which sounded surprisingly good.

"That sounds delicious by the way." She complimented his choice once Lindsay walked away.

"See you say that, but it has a higher alcohol content than my beer even does." His eyes glittered with mischief.

"Oh, so you're just trying to get me drunk."

"You seem a little shy, I'm just trying to prep you to be more outgoing when you meet everyone else. Because they're wild."

"That's so thoughtful of you."

"I'm a very thoughtful person. That's so nice of you to notice."

Charlie was blown away by how easy it was to talk to him. As nervous as she'd been to take him up on his offer, she was glad she did. They were hitting it off so well, it was like she'd known him for much longer than about an hour.

"It's hard not to when you decided to take me under your wing on my first day."

His eyes crinkled up as his laugh extended to his whole face. "I just felt a good vibe off of you, you don't always get that. You seemed like a cool person so I figured I might as well initiate you into our crazy group."

"I'm excited to meet everyone. And I'm having a lot of fun hanging out with you, so thank you. I know I promised to stop saying thanks, but you didn't have to invite me out, and it was really cool you did."

"I'm glad I did." He answered her, "I'm having a lot of fun also." Lindsay returned with their drinks and silently set them down, not interrupting their conversation.

"Okay, so now that we're done appreciating how great we both are it's my turn to ask you some more questions." Charlie took a sip of her cider, which was strong but just as good as it sounded.

"Oh is it?"

"Yeah, I can't just tell you all about me. That wouldn't be fair."

"You're right." He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Shoot, I'm an open book."

"Okay, so you said you're from Canada. But where is your favorite place to travel to? I mean, you've probably seen so many places by now."

"That's tough." He paused and took a deep breath. "I feel like everywhere we go has some kind of redeeming and charming feature to it."

"But if you _had_ to choose somewhere?"

"You're here. I just have so many good memories here coming up in NXT with all my friends, and living here for so long. I love it here."

His answer was punctuated by Lindsay bringing out their food and setting it in front of them. "Everything look okay?"

"It looks amazing." Tyler dug right into his fries, his face an expression of pure happiness.

"If you need anything just flag me down." She offered more to Charlie than Tyler.

Charlie tried one of the fries first and was blown away. He hadn't been kidding, the fries were the best she'd ever had.

When she looked up he was waiting expectantly. "I hope you know, our friendship is dependent on what you say right now."

"Honestly..." She cringed and hesitated, trying to fool him into thinking she didn't like them.

"No way" He shook his head and his face twisted into disappointment, "You really don't like them?"

"Not really. I love them." She burst into loud laughter at his expression.

"You are terrible and I like it."

"That't possibly one of the best compliments I've ever gotten." The two erupted into a fit of laughter.

Charlie dug into her burger, which was equally as good as the fries. It was so garlicky and delicious with the perfect amount of heat.

Charlie had cut her burger in half and was full so she offered it to tyler who gladly accepted and polished it off. "So, you ready to go meet some more people?"

"I am." She nodded, a small nervous pit returning to her stomach at the thought. She felt a little more confident now that she had gotten more comfortable with Tyler and especially with the little bit of alcohol in her system.

"Let's do it then. I'll cover the check."

"No way, I can pay for my half."

"I've got it. Seriously, it's fine. You can buy me a drink at the bar we go to or something."

Charlie reluctantly accepted, even though she would have rather him let her pay for her share. She didn't want to feel like she was just taking advantage of him.

He paid and gave Lindsay a big hug before they left and climbed into an uber he had called. "So you're gonna meet all of the New Day, which is Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E. Sasha Banks and her husband Mikaze will be there. I know Becky Lynch and Sami Zayn might be there. I'm not totally sure who else will be there, but i'll introduce you to everyone."

"Sounds super intimidating" Charlie replied with total honesty and a nervous laugh. "But it should be fun."

"It's always fun with us."

"I believe that to be honest." She could hear her voice wavering the closer they got to the bar and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Don't worry, everyone is super down to earth. It's nothing to be scared of." Tyler could clearly tell she was nervous so she nodded and brushed off his concern. "Don't worry about me, I just get nervous at first but then once I warm up I'll be good."

"You ready?" He asked her, waiting for her approval to get out of the uber.

"Let's do it." She channeled her excitement and nodded enthusiastically. Tyler cheered and opened up the door for the car, letting her out and thanking the driver.

Tyler led her into the bar and waved to a group of people hanging out on the far side of the bar. She recognized a lot of them from watching with Jess, and her fellow stylist, Lexi, stood out with her neon hair.

"Prince Pretty is in the building!" Xavier Woods called out loudly from across the bar, grinning as he saw his friend.

"Breezy boy, get over here." Big E commanded holding out a shot.

Charlie waved to the only other person she knew, Lexi, who smiled and waved back. "Hey guys." Tyler seemed even more vibrant around his friends. "This is Charlie, she's the new stylist they hired." Tyler motioned to her and she smiled and waved awkwardly.

"What's up girl" Big E called out in his loud voice with a huge grin.

"Hi" She couldn't help but grin back, his energy was contagious.

"Charlie this is Big E and Xavier Woods." He motioned to the two of them. "This is Sasha and her husband Mikaze." Sasha gave her a welcoming smile and Charlie waved again.

"It's nice to meet all of you." She greeted, feeling awkward being on display for each of them.

"Where's Kofi?" Tyler asked Xavier, ignoring the shot Big E was trying to hand him.

"Boy, if you keep ducking this shot..." Big E threatened, trailing off, goofy smile still on his face even as he chided Tyler.

"Okay, okay" Tyler gave in and took the shot from him, "What is this?"

"It's a surprise" Xavier answered. "Here you take mine." He handed his shot to Charlie who hesitantly took it from him. "Kofi will be here in a bit. He's gonna head over with Sami."

"Okay, let's do this." Big E counted down from three and they all took their shots.

"Ugh, what was that?" Sasha made a face and stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"That was definitely Jagermeister" Charlie seconded the look of disgust. "I would recognize that taste anywhere."

Xavier tried to muffle his laughter and he nodded "That's why I had to give you my shot. I know what this asshole had up his sleeve."

"Hey, who doesn't like Jagermeister?" Big E's face gave away how full of shit he was and Tyler shook his head at him. "Everyone. Everyone doesn't like it." He made a disgusted face and shook his head back and forth quickly.

"That's why mine was jack daniels" E laughed loudly, earning a dirty look from Sasha."

"That's typical." She rolled her eyes but couldn't help laughing. 

"So you're the new stylist huh?" Xavier turned his attention back to Charlie, ignoring the bickering between Sasha and E.

"Yeah. Tyler was nice enough to invite me out to meet everyone."

"Leave it to Prince Pretty here to be the nicest one as usual." Xavier put his arm around his friend and smiled. "SO you're going to keep us looking fabulous obviously. But just remember that The New Day needs to look the most fabulous."

"No" Tyler protested "No way, I need to look the best. Make them look like the unicorn trash they are."

"Unicorn trash?" Big E crossed his arms over his chest and turned his attention back to their conversation, "Don't come at me with that. You know the New Day is gorgeous." He started dancing and swiveling his hips, making everyone laugh.

"I'd give Xavier a fashion ticket for those elf shoes for sure." Sasha Banks cut in.

"My elf shoes are fantastic, don't hate."

"I'll make you all look fabulous I promise." Charlie laughed at their ridiculous back and forth.

"But she'll still obviously focus on me because I'm already her favorite."

"So that was your evil plan all along" Charlie pretended to look disappointed.

"Of course not, it's just a nice side effect of being so adored."

"Girl, if you ever need some time away from these guys I've always got your back." Sasha cut in, rolling her eyes at the guys as they made faces at her.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind." Charlie nodded at her. She couldn't help but notice she was even more gorgeous in person, even with minimal makeup on. "I'm gonna go grab a drink, does anyone else want one?"

"I need one too, I'll come with." Tyler twisted out of Xavier's grasp as he tried to put him in a headlock to keep him over by them.

"He can't keep his hands off of me. It's too much." Tyler pointed at Xavier and gave him a warning glance, causing Xavier to burst out in another belly laugh.

Charlie and Tyler grabbed some drinks and headed back as Sami Zayne, and Kofi were joining the group. "Becky is gonna stay in tonight." She overheard Sami explaining as they walked back up.

"Oh, Woods, guess which burger she got?"

Woods looked her over, his eyes widening slightly, "Girl, tell me you got that plague bringer."

"I did" Charlie laughed as he picked her up off her feet and spun her around. "This is a girl after my own heart. Did you love it?"

"I loved it. It was like a garlic bomb from heaven."

"It is!" Xavier gave Tyler a dirty look, "Though _someone_ should have invited me if you were going there."

"Lindsay says hi." Tyler tried his hardest to give Xavier an innocent look. "I didn't want to overwhelm her. I wanted her to feel semi comfortable with me before I threw into this mix of insane people."

"I am not an overwhelming person." Xavier put his hands on his chest his face a caricature of hurt.

"Is he not an overwhelming person?" Tyler asked Charlie, looking for back up.

"It was my fault, I was really nervous about even taking him up on meeting all of you tonight." Charlie admitted.

"Don't be scared of us. Only Big E bites. Just stay away from him." Big E punctuated Xavier's statement by biting the air aggressively.

"I'll keep that in mind." She managed to get out through laughter as Big E kept acting goofy.

"Kofi, come meet Charlie, she's new." Big E yelled at their final tag team partner who came over to them right away. "Who's new?" He looked confused then his gaze settled on Charlie so he waved. "Oh, what's up."

"Nothing, just being given the run down on who to avoid by Xavier and Tyler."

"Oh and who's on that list so far?"

"So far just me." Big E cut in, looking proud.

"Probably a good idea. He's nothing but trouble." Kofi agreed, his easy going smile lighting up his face.

"I won't avoid you E" Charlie responded, grinning at Big E, "Trouble is more fun."

"She knows what's up." Big E gave his nod of approval and walked over, slinging his arm over her shoulders. "I like this one."

"Don't say we didn't warn you." Kofi warned her.

Charlie was having a ton of fun with all of the wrestlers there. Her and Sasha had talked for a while and she was really funny and laid back which put her a lot more at ease knowing she'd be doing her makeup and hair tomorrow.

The guys were all crazy and played off each other's silliness and had her cracking up non stop. "Okay, I need another drink I'll be right back." She excused herself from where she'd been talking with Tyler and Kofi and headed over to the bar.

"What can I get for you love?" A cute bartender with short, messy black hair asked her as she leaned on the bar.

"Just a tequila sunrise please." She ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face and glanced back at the group of wrestlers and various other wwe employees she was hanging out with. They were all broken into different side conversations, all of them drinking and being loud.

"Hey" A semi familiar looking guy with dark brown shoulder length hair and a beard grabbed her attention as he walked up next to her at the bar.

"Hi?" She tried to think of whether she had been introduced to him already but she didn't think she had. "Do I know you?"

"No" He shook his head and gave her a cute but cocky smile. "You're Charlie right, the new girl in the makeup department?"

"Yeah, that's me." She agreed, looking him over. "Are you gonna tell me who you are?" She asked playfully, the liquid courage from all the drinks she'd had taking over.

"Sorry, that would help probably." He nodded, "I'm Seth Rollins, I also wrestle with all of those guys."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Seth."

"Nice to meet you too" He responded, seeming to struggle for what to say next. "So, what are you drinking?" He leaned next to her on the bar, his gaze fixed on her.

"Tequila sunrise."

"Oh, okay." He laughed, "I can't mess with tequila."

"Can't hold your alcohol huh?" She teased him, taking advantage of her extra confidence.

"I just act like a fool when I drink tequila" He laughed, "I get too crazy. Especially when I'm being goaded on by people like Woods and E."

"Good crazy or bad crazy?"

"Depends on who you ask." He smirked and she noticed his gaze traveling down and taking her in before meeting her gaze again. As cute as he was she wasn't sure how she felt about how bold he was being about checking her out.

The bartender brought her drink over and Seth ordered some craft beer she'd never heard of. "I'll pay for mine and hers." He told the bartender who nodded and went to grab his beer.

"You don't have to do that." Charlie replied, holding up her credit card she was about to hand to the bartender, "I've got mine."

"Don't even worry about it. It's not every day we get a new pretty face around here, I've got it."

"I feel like there are pretty faces everywhere from what I've seen so far." Charlie laughed, trying to get him to tone down his flirtation.

"You're not wrong, but it's on me. Don't worry about it, seriously."

"Well, thank you. Everyone's been buying me drinks all night. I feel kind of bad."

"Don't. That's how it always is." He handed cash to the bartender and took a drink from his beer. "Everyone here loves to go out and have fun. We're always buying each other drinks."

"You guys are too nice."

"Only sometimes." He laughed. "So where are you from?" She glanced back over at the other guys to see Tyler and Xavier were back to play fighting, trying to put each other in a headlock.

"I live in Austin now, but I'm from Colorado Springs."

"Nice, I love Austin. It has a great music scene."

"It does. It's really great for art and music down there. I love it. The rest of Texas is... eh." She shrugged.

He smiled widely "I've also heard that." his laugh extended to his chocolate brown eyes. "So do you live by yourself in Austin?"

"Is that your not so subtle way of asking if I have a boyfriend?" She could tell by his expression she had hit the mark. It was almost kind of annoying that he kept cycling back to hitting on her. Everyone else had just been enjoying talking to her and getting to know her.

Yet right off the bat he kept checking her out and even when she thought he was finally just talking to her like a normal human he would go back to flirting with her. She couldn't help but wonder if he actually even cared where she was from or if he was just working towards asking that question in particular.

He laughed nervously and licked his lips. "Maybe a little bit."

"Thanks for the drink." She smiled politely and took her drink from the bar, "I appreciate it."

"Come on, don't be mad." He cringed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seem like a dick."

"You're fine."

"Seriously, I'm sorry. I totally came off like a jerk."

"Really, you're fine. I'm just gonna head back over by Tyler." She pursed her lips into a forced smile and excused herself. He seemed nice enough, but she hated when guys boiled her down to just a sex object. If that's all he was getting at she was over talking to him.

"Welcome back." Tyler put his arm around her. "What took so long?"

"I ran into one of your friends. So I was talking to him for a bit."

"Oh yeah? Which friend." Tyler's eyes were a bit more glassy than before as he scanned the room.

"Seth Rollins." Charlie looked over to where the dark haired wrestler was talking to Sasha Banks and Mikaze now.

"Oh, okay, I didn't even see him come in. Seth is a cool dude."

"He was okay." She tried not to sound as annoyed as she was by him, but her tone gave away her slight irritation.

"Yeah? What happened?" Tyler looked amused as he removed his arm from her shoulders and faced her, waiting for her to spill the story.

"He was nice enough..." She trailed off, hoping Tyler would let it go. She didn't want to upset him by implying his friend seemed like a man whore and a jerk. It's not like she assumed he would take her side, they had just met. Him and Seth had probably been friends for years.

"Until..." Tyler motioned for her to go on.

"Until the whole conversation became obvious it was just him fishing to see if I had a boyfriend so he could flirt with me even more than he already was."

Tyler burst out laughing and shook his head. "Leave it to Seth. Look, I'm sure he didn't mean it to come off that way."

"Even so, it was just annoying. Like, do you only care to ask questions about me to know whether or not I'm free to have sex with you? Like, do I give off the vibe that I'm easy or something?"

"No, you don't. Don't take it that way. I promise you he didn't mean it that way. He probably just found you cute, because you are, and was curious. I don't think he was trying to see if he could get in your pants tonight."

"He better not have been, because I don't just jump into bed with someone the first day I meet them."

"I'm going to let you in on a secret" Tyler lowered his voice and met her eyes. "We all look like we're cool and tough or whatever but we're all secretly huge nerds. Seth really is cool, he's just bad at discreetly flirting with someone. None of us are cool. That's the secret."

Charlie couldn't help but burst out laughing at Tyler who seemed pleased he had brought a smile back to her face. "If you say so then I'll trust you. But nobody else acted like that."

"Well, you're definitely Rollins type, so he probably couldn't help himself."

"And what type is that?"

"He likes those cute but somewhat edgy looking girls." Tyler elbowed her and grinned "He's harmless. Trust me."

She glanced over and eyed Seth, who had tied his hair up into a messy bun. He was laughing at something Sami was saying and she had to admit he seemed nice enough. But she couldn't shake off how annoyed she had been when he gave away his true intentions of talking to her.

"I'll trust you." Charlie agreed, "You seem trustworthy enough."

Charlie was distracted by Big E loudly yelling his approval as a song came on. "Charlie, my girl, let's go."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her after him "Where are we going?" She followed him regardless, stopping when he did. "We're dancing to this one. Come on Sasha!"

Sasha shook her head but danced goofily over to E and Charlie. "Okay, swivel your hips like this." Big E did his signature dance move and Charlie and Sasha mimicked him, both of them laughing at each other's dance moves.

"Learning the signature Big E dance move is basically required to hangout with us." Sasha spoke over the music to Charlie, "You've got it down."

Charlie felt ridiculous spinning her hips around but was having a lot of fun with them. She noticed Seth was watching with an amused smile and felt a blush creep across her face. She couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed knowing he was watching.

She brushed it off though and just went along with her new friend's silliness. By the time they all decided to head home she was more than a little drunk but was extremely happy.

"We should just walk back to the hotel, it's not that far." Xavier looked down at his phone, noting the ten minute wait for an uber that could fit most of them.

"I'm okay with that." Sasha agreed. "It's gorgeous out right now."

"Want a ride?" E met Charlie's gaze, motioning to his back. "Are you serious." She giggled, her head swimming slightly. She hadn't drank this much in a long time and if she was being honest, she wouldn't hate a piggy back ride back to the hotel. She knew it was a pretty decent walk.

"Jump on girl." He crouched down slightly and she hopped onto his back. He easily lifted her up higher and followed behind the group.

"I mean, I would have liked a piggy back ride." Tyler complained, shooting E a dirty look.

"You're pretty ass can walk." E shot back, "This girl weighs practically nothing. I'm not about to carry your two hundred pound ass back to the hotel."

Tyler held his fist up at Charlie, pretending to be mad at her and she stuck her tongue out in retaliation. 

When they got to the hotel and in the elevator she hopped down from E's back and gave him a big hug, giggling as he spun her around in a circle. "You guys are awesome, thanks for inviting me out tonight."

"I'm glad you came out, you're welcome any time." Xavier gave her a quick hug, "Plus you're welcome to come try to beat me in some video games whenever you want." She laughed and nodded "I'll definitely take you up on that."

They'd talked for a while and had ended up bonding and nerding out over their shared love of video games and she'd promised to hangout and beat him some time soon.

She gave Tyler a hug as the elevator opened onto her floor and thanked him one last time before waving to the last few of them left in the elevator before the doors closed.

She had been so scared about abandoning everything in her life to come be a part of this new life she had been offered.

In fact, it had taken a lot of convincing from her friend. But she knew now it had to be the right decision. She hadn't felt this right about a decision in a long time, and she just had a feeling like she belonged. Even knowing it was going to be a wild ride and a lot of work.

She also couldn't wait to tell Jess all about it so far and to thank her again for forcing her to get out of her comfort zone.


	3. Chapter 3

"You did an amazing job tonight" Charlie looked up as her coworker Lexi addressed her.

"Really? thank you." The night had mostly been a blur if she was being honest. It had been so busy and fast paced she had just kind of put her head down and powered through.

"What did you think though? The tv tapings are always the craziest because everything has to be extra perfect, but it's fun."

"I loved it. I like working fast." Charlie sprayed down a makeup brush and cleaned it on the paper towel she was using. "I feel like the time flew by. It doesn't even feel like it should be over yet."

"It goes fast for sure." Lexi agreed with her. "Who are you riding to Gainesville with tonight?"

Tyler had offered for her to drive to the next town with him and the boys from the New Day so she had gladly accepted. According to him Big E's SUV had more than enough room to add her to the mix.

"Tyler Breeze offered for me to ride with him and The New Day guys."

"That'll be a fun trip. You're probably going to stop for food a million times though. So be prepared for that. Those boys can eat."

"It's only a two hour drive." Charlie couldn't imagine they would stop that many times for food. How many times could you possibly need to eat in two hours?

"It'll be at _least_ two or three stops then, trust me. They're ridiculous. I rode with the guys in the New Day once and I couldn't do it again. I have just as bad of a sweet tooth as they do and I'd gain like twenty pounds traveling with them."

"Sounds like I'm in trouble." Charlie commiserated with a laugh.

"Oh yeah." Lexi nodded, "Well if you ever want to ride with Tiff and I in the future you're always welcome. I know you flew in so you don't have your own car."

"I appreciate that, I'll definitely take you up on that some time." She didn't even have her own car back in austin, she would just borrow Jess' car when she absolutely needed one or she'd walk. But she wasn't about to admit that.

"Either way have fun on your first road trip with them and don't let them peer pressure you into eating like a pig just so they feel better about themselves."

The two girls got lost in conversation and had everything packed up and loaded into the car just after the show let out. They helped finish packing up the rest of their department's stuff and then she headed to the main hall where she had told Tyler she'd meet up with him.

"Hey Charlie!" She turned as someone called her name to see Seth hurrying to catch up with her down the long hallway. She couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips as she saw him.

"Hey." She answered, trying her best to sound at least civil. "Great job tonight on your win."

He appeared to be caught off guard by her congratulating him and ran a hand through his long, still semi wet hair a confused expression passing across his features before being replaced with a smile. "Thanks."

"Sure, what's up?"

"I uh-" He paused as he tried to form what he wanted to say "I wanted to apologize for making a fool of myself last night." He had his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and she could tell he seemed slightly uncomfortable. "I realize I came off as a dick and I didn't mean to be."

She bit her lip and allowed a small smile to play at her lips at his apology. "Thanks, I appreciate you apologizing." She knew she was being tough on him, probably unfairly so. She was just so tired of thinking guys were actually interested in what she was saying only to find out they were only waiting until they could get in asking her if she wanted to come home with them or some other weak pick up line.

"I was hoping maybe we could start over?" He looked so hopeful, his brown eyes further betraying his nerves. She couldn't help feel her resolve melt a bit as she met those eyes. "Look, I can't promise I won't flirt with you. Full disclosure right there." He seemed to ease up a bit as a laugh escaped her "But I just want to start over and try to be friends."

Charlie rolled her eyes but smiled and nodded. "We can start over. Tyler vouched for you and I trust him when he says you weren't trying to be an asshole."

"I really wasn't trying to be. Clearly I was, but it was never my intention."

"In your defense I probably also overreacted so I'm sorry also. We're cool in my book."

"Well thank you." She couldn't help but notice how nice his smile was. His whole face lit up when he smiled. "I'm Seth Rollins. I'm a fucking idiot a lot of the time apparently so just bear with me." He held out his hand to her as if he was introducing himself for the first time again.

"Nice to meet you Seth Rollins, I'm Charlie Jagger and I probably need to not be so hard on people." He laughed and shook her hand.

"So how did you like the first day?" He was visibly more relaxed now that she had accepted his apology. He leaned against the wall as he waited for her response, stuffing his hands back in the pockets of his hoodie.

"I like it a lot honestly. It went by crazy fast though."

"It always goes fast. Even when you're getting your ass kicked, thankfully."

"Well I don't have to worry about all of that." Charlie laughed, "I don't think that would ever feel like it would go fast though."

"You'd be surprised, especially with everyone cheering or booing you. It's just fun man, I love it." His face lit up as he talked about wrestling, "It's always been what I wanted to do. I love it... even when I'm taking a beating."

"I'm always so envious of people that have always known what they want to do. I never felt that way growing up about anything. At least not that strongly."

"So do you think you finally figured it out or are you still searching?"

"I think I finally figured it out." She laughed at the thought, "It only took about a million tries and countless major changes to realize I didn't want to be at college at all."

"Hey, fuck it. All that matters is that you figured it out right?" He shrugged "It doesn't matter what it took to get there if it happened."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She conceded. "Thanks for the pep talk." she teased playfully.

"Hey any time, maybe it's a secret talent I didn't know I had."

"You never know, maybe you missed your true calling."

"As what?" He laughed loudly, "A motivational speaker?"

"Maybe." She hid her smile behind her hand, "I mean, don't ask me, I'm the one who took 26 years to figure out what I wanted to do with my life."

His laugh was contagious and she couldn't help joining in. "What were the other options before becoming a stylist?"

"Oh no, no way. I'm not even spilling all those embarrassing tidbits of information. Not happening."

"Come on." He gave her puppy dog eyes, "Just tell me one. Preferably the most embarrassing one."

"Oh, of course. Why would I pick anything but the most embarrassing one to share with you."

"None of them can be that bad."

"You'd be surprised." She laughed, but her cheeks were heating up slightly. She rolled her eyes and exhaled a deep groan as she caved in. "Fine, I'll tell you one thing and that's it."

His eyes lit up as he waited for her to go on. "I promise not to laugh."

"Don't make promises you can't keep. For a while I wanted to go to art school and major in stop motion film making." She spoke quickly, her cheeks getting more red.

"That's not embarrassing. That's cute."

"Oh please, don't try to be nice." She laughed, "It was ridiculous. It's embarrassing because I'm not even that good at art like sculpting and stuff, I just thought it seemed so cool. It's totally unrealistic. Especially for me."

"You're funny. That's not even anywhere near what I was expecting."

"What were you expecting?"

"Honestly I don't even know, but something worse than that."

"I went to bartending school, that was another one." She laughed, not knowing why she suddenly wanted to spill another one.

"Yeah?" his eyebrow raised in amused curiosity, "How'd that work out for you."

"It didn't I only had a bartending job for like 3 days, I didn't like it."

"Too many guys flirting with you?" he teased and she let her mouth drop open in exaggerated shock.

"Oh, you've got jokes now, huh Rollins?"

He bit his lip to contain a laugh at her expense and shrugged, "I couldn't pass it up."

"Honestly I just hated being sticky all the time." She laughed at his expression in response to that statement, "Okay, get your head out of the gutter."

"I didn't-" He protested, shaking his head at her, "You're the one with your mind in the gutter. That's just such a random reason to not like it."

"Trust me, it was gross."

"I'll take your word for it." their eyes met and she smiled at him. She was surprisingly enjoying talking to Seth when she heard Tyler and Xavier yelling for her loudly from the opposite end of the hall.

"Let's hit the road Charlie! It's time to go on your first road trip." Xavier yelled for her, "Plus E is hungry so we need to go get some food."

Seth waved to his friends and turned back to Charlie. "Well, have fun with them. I'll see you later I guess."

"Yeah, see you later." She waved to him and turned to face her friends with a wide smile. "You guys are so loud." She glanced back at Seth one last time as she started walking towards her friends and he gave her a small smile in return.

"Are you ready for your first ever road trip with The New Day Breeze." Xavier's energy was practically bubbling over as she reached them by the door.

"We need to come up with a better friendship name for us." Tyler complained. "The New Breeze is awful."

"Don't complain." Xavier rolled his eyes, "We could call it her first ever road trip with The New Day and MmmCharles."

Tyler playfully pushed his friend, giving him a dirty look. "No! No way."

"Then don't complain." Xavier shook his head and turned to Charlie for support. "This guy, I swear."

"You guys are nuts." Charlie laughed at the two of them. "I'm ready to go when you are." She picked up her backpack, glad they had loaded her two suitcases into their car earlier so she didn't have to worry about it now.

"Let's do this!" Xavier yelled loudly and led the way out to the car with Tyler following next to Charlie.

" _So_ what were you and Seth talking about."

She couldn't help but assume he already knew by the smug expression on his face. "I don't know, something tells me you either had a hand in it or know already." She laughed as he acted appalled by the suggestion.

"I have no idea, which is why I asked."

"Okay Tyler, if you say so." Charlie continued to avoid the question until he gently elbowed her and gave her a suggestive look. "Seriously, what was that about? You didn't look angry like you were yesterday."

"He apologized for last night and I chose to believe you that he's not as bad as I thought and I forgave him."

"Well you looked awfully happy talking to him from where I was standing."

Charlie gave him a warning glance and shook her head. "I was just having a normal conversation with him. There was nothing more to it."

"I'm just messing with you. I'm glad he apologized."

"Yeah, it was cool of him." She still had a feeling Tyler had set him up and told him to apologize. But seeing as she had no proof and Tyler clearly wasn't going to admit anything she let it go.

"So I hear there will be all kinds of stops for food on this two hour trip."

"Oh yeah." Xavier turned back to her and nodded "two hours? More like three to four when it's with us. I hope you came hungry."

"Why so many stops?" She couldn't believe Lexi hadn't been exaggerating. "Why would you need to stop at more than once place to eat for such a short trip?"

Tyler laughed and got in the car, choosing to ignore her question. Once they got in the car, Xavier and Big E in the front and Charlie sandwiched between Tyler and Kofi in the spacious back seat, Xavier turned to E. "E, please explain to Charlie why we need to stop at more than one place on this trip. She thinks we should stop at one restaurant and be done with it."

"I didn't say that!" Charlie protested, "I just asked why you didn't stop at one place." She smacked Xavier gently on the arm. "Don't make stuff up."

"Charlie, you're my girl so far. Don't ruin that with questions like why we stop multiple times for food." Big E turned around from the driver's seat to meet her eyes.

"Okay, my bad." She laughed, throwing her hands up in surrender.

"You're new to our craziness so I'll allow it." E gave her a thumbs up "There's an amazing breakfast place in one city on the way, then a place with some of the best milkshakes I've _ever_ had in another. We can't stop at just one, it just wouldn't be right."

"I take it back, that makes perfect sense." Charlie laughed. Even though she still thought it was slightly insane, she also thought it was a little bit genius. "I guess if you can do that, then why not?"

Charlie settled into the back seat, laying her head back and allowing herself to relax. She was exhausted from earlier and her thoughts kept drifting back to her conversations with Seth and Tyler.

She genuinely couldn't help wondering if Seth's apology was of his own accord or if Tyler had told him he needed to apologize. There was no real way of knowing, but even though she had a feeling maybe Tyler had suggested it she also felt like Seth was genuine about it.

He'd seemed too nervous about whether or not she'd forgive him for it to be an act. She had to admit she'd probably misjudged him at least slightly last night. He was a lot more fun to talk to than she figured he would be.

She had almost been disappointed for a moment when she heard Tyler and Xavier screaming for her. She had been having a good time joking around with him, even when the jokes had been at her expense.

She forced the dark haired wrestler out of her thoughts and turned her attention back to the friends she was with. Big E and Kofi were loudly singing an Outkast song while Xavier danced in the passenger seat of the car. Tyler meanwhile was busy recording them on his phone and laughing as they acted even more ridiculous for his phone. Kofi put his arm around Charlie and made her dance with him as she threw her head back in laughter.

"No way, I don't dance."

"You danced last night." Xavier laughed at her, "You had that New Day hip swivel down."

"I had a lot of tequila in me also."

"I guess that's a fair point." Kofi accepted her excuse.

"If _someone_ stops recording I have no problem acting like a fool and dancing."

"You heard her Breeze." Kofi pointed at his phone, "Turn it off."

"She's just worried Seth Rollins will see it." Tyler teased her, earning a dirty look from her.

"I just don't need any blackmail of my awkward ass dancing. I could care less who sees, Seth included"

"I'll put it away." Tyler gave in, sliding the phone back into his pocket.

"If I have to dance like an idiot so do you." She grabbed Tyler's hand and forced him to dance along with her and Kofi in the back seat. He easily gave in and all of them had a lot of fun acting ridiculous singing and dancing along to Big E's playlist.

By the time they finally got to the next town she was both stuffed and exhausted. She didn't know how they were all still so awake once they got there. She swore they were all still running at full blast like the energizer bunny.

She was ready to climb into her hotel bed and sleep like a rock for as long as she could. "Want me to help you carry your bags to your room?" Tyler offered to help once they were both given their room keys.

The other guys had already headed up to their rooms and left her and Tyler in the lobby while they got their rooms assigned to them.

"Don't worry about it. I just have the three bags. We're not even on the same floor." She motioned to her large rolling suitcase and her smaller suitcase of her makeup. She was already wearing her backpack.

"Okay, well if you want to meet us for breakfast tomorrow we'll be down there around seven."

"If I'm awake I'll be down there."

Tyler laughed, taking in her tired expression. "So probably don't count on seeing you there then?"

"Probably not." She admitted with a laugh.

"I don't blame you. If we didn't have a semi early call for run throughs I'd want to sleep in too."

"I guess we're off tomorrow since you guys don't have a house show or anything going on tomorrow night."

"Once I'm free I'll text you, maybe we can hangout and find something fun to do."

"That sounds good to me." She agreed, "I've never been to Gainesville." The elevator let out a loud ding as it reached her floor and the doors slowly opened for her.

"Cool, we'll find something to do then. I'll talk to you tomorrow afternoon. Get some sleep."

"Sounds good, talk to you tomorrow."

She found her room and quickly changed into a baggy sleep shirt before she washed her makeup off and collapsed into her bed. She was glad they still hadn't assigned her to a roommate yet. It made it all the easier to curl up in the comfy hotel bed and fall right asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie scanned the dance floor from where she was seated in the upper level of the club she was at. She didn't see any of her friends and honestly didn't even care that much. She wasn't really feeling like being out at a club tonight.

She hadn't even wanted to come but Tyler and Sasha had eventually talked her into it. It had been a few weeks that she had been with the company now, and tonight she kind of just wanted a nice relaxing night in. But all of her friends had insisted on going out partying since they all had the day off tomorrow.

She took a sip of her malibu pineapple and was scrolling through her instagram feed when someone behind her called her name and startled her.

"My bad, didn't mean to scare you." She met familiar brown eyes as Seth sat across from her on the strange little round couch she was on.

"You're okay, I just wasn't paying attention." She held up her phone as an excuse "I was spacing out."

"What are you doing up here by yourself?" He leaned back a bit, settling into the couch more comfortably. "I ran into Breeze down there and he said you were here hiding somewhere. So I figured I'd come find you and see what exactly you were hiding from."

"I'm not hiding." She rolled her eyes. Leave it to Tyler to exaggerate and make it sound more dramatic. "I'm just not really feeling the club scene tonight. Tyler and Sasha basically forced me to come and I just needed a quick break up here. When did you get here?"

"Probably like thirty minutes ago. Sasha was making me dance with them." He laughed, "They're all going wild down there."

"They sure are." Charlie laughed, "They're the life of the party down there right now. Especially Sasha. Her and Xavier were having a dance off earlier."

"I always miss the good parts."

"You should come earlier then instead of always being fashionably late when we all go out."

"Aw, you want to spend more time with me don't you?"

"Absolutely, that's totally what I was getting at with that." Charlie playfully shot back. "It wasn't at all about how you wouldn't miss out on everyone's shenanigans if you ever came on time."

He laughed and took a drink out of his glass of beer he'd set on the table in the center of the rounded couch. "I'm always running late I can't help it."

"Why? Perfection takes time to get ready?" She teased him, smiling as he belly laughed at her impression of him.

"I mean... you said it not me."

"You caught me Rollins. You're perfect, just _absolutely_ drop dead gorgeous." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. He licked his lips and shrugged as if he agreed.

"I try not to disappoint." He ran a hand through his hair and flexed, purposely acting like a tool.

"I swear I hate you." Charlie laughed and leaned forward, pulling his arm back down. "Stop it, you look crazy."

"You just don't want these other girls seeing me and stealing me away." He replied, "It's okay, you can admit it."

"You caught me." She answered with a deadpan tone. "And I tried so hard to not give it away."

"It's okay. I've heard I'm pretty good at reading people."

"Read this" she gave him the finger and he laughed again before blowing her a kiss. She had grown to really like Seth, even if half the time he did drive her crazy.

"So, for real though, how come you're not feeling it tonight?"

"I just wanted a chill, lazy night." She shrugged, "I don't know. I wasn't in the partying mood today."

"So let's go do something else." He suggested it as if it was the most obvious answer.

"I can't just leave."

"Why not?"

"I came here with Tyler and Sasha and they really wanted me to come, I'd feel bad."

"Charlie, you were sitting up here by yourself on your phone. If you don't want to be here fuck it, let's go."

"Like you and I go do something else together?" She knew it was a dumb question, but it threw her off. Her and Seth had never really hung out by themselves. It was always in a group when they'd go out, or when they were with Xavier playing video games in his room.

"Sure, I don't really want to be here any more than you do." He replied. "I just came out because it seemed more fun than watching movies back in my room by myself on a Saturday night."

"What are we even gonna do?"

"Who cares, we'll figure it out. It's a Saturday night and we're in Myrtle Beach. We can just go explore and find something to do." He smirked and met her eyes, "Are you nervous to hangout with me?"

"No." Charlie shot back quickly. "I just feel bad bailing on everyone." She lied, hoping he'd buy her story. She wasn't about to admit she was nervous to hangout alone with him.

It's not like she didn't trust him or something. She just wasn't sure if they'd really hit it off when it was just the two of them. Usually it was just playful quick conversations when it was just the two of them. Like it had been tonight before his suggestion they leave.

What if they hungout and discovered they couldn't stand each other and then it was awkward? She was okay with their current situation and her keeping him at arm's length. She was worried if she got to know him he might prove to be more like the arrogant manwhore she thought he was when she first met him.

"They'll be okay. Seriously, let's go. it'll be fun I promise."

She sighed and shrugged, finally giving in to his idea. It did sound more fun than being here where she was miserable and left by herself because she was being lame and antisocial.

"We can't just be like oh hey we're leaving together." She said, frowning at the amused face he made as she said it. "What? We can't."

"Why not?" He laughed, "Is it so crazy to think we might just want to go do something else?"

Tyler was always teasing her about Seth because of her reaction to him that first night. He'd have a field day if she went up to him and told him they were leaving the club together.

"No, it's not crazy. I just know how they are."

"You think they'll act like we're going back to the hotel together huh?" He teased, big smile on his face as her cheeks gave away her embarrassment.

"I don't think they'll actually think that, but they'd love to use it to tease us." Or tease her more specifically. It didn't matter how many times she protested and said she didn't like him as more than a friend. Even if Tyler believed her he still loved to get a rise out of her.

"Relax" He stood up and finished his beer. "They won't care. They know we're friends. Plus, I don't think any of them would be okay with you saying you're leaving and heading back to the hotel by yourself anyways."

"Why not?"

"Because I wouldn't be. I'd want to walk you back or something. I wouldn't let any of you girls head back alone. Not even Sasha or Becky who I know could kick someone's ass if they had to. You never know what creeps are out there."

She tried to hide her smile at his confession and nodded. "I guess you're probably right."

When he put it that way, she knew he was right for sure. There was no way Breeze or any of the other guys would let her walk back to the hotel herself. She was gonna have to suck it up and tell them she was leaving with Seth.

She'd have to face the teasing from Breeze later whether she liked it or not. Truthfully he probably would have found out anyways because she'd probably end up mentioning it to him regardless. Him and Sasha had become her two closest friends in the last few weeks.

"You can finish your drink and then we'll go find something more fun to do."

Charlie stood up, allowing Seth to take her hand and pull her to her feet. She shot back what was left of her drink and headed downstairs with Seth to find her friends and say goodbye for the night.

Seth led her to where he knew they were and Sasha's face lit up when she saw Charlie. "There you are" She grabbed Charlie's hand and pulled her to her, trying to get her to dance with her.

"How'd you get her to come have fun finally?" Tyler asked Seth, yelling over the music.

"I didn't. We're actually coming down to let you guys know we're heading out."

"What?" Sasha's face fell and she pouted her bottom lip out at Charlie, "Why are you leaving?"

"I'm just not feeling it tonight, I promise next time I'll come and dance with you and have a great time."

"Where are you two even going?" Tyler raised one eyebrow as he looked between the two of them.

"We're gonna go find something else to do, we're not sure." Seth spoke up again, answering for the two of them.

"Oh sure, go run off into the night with Seth to do who knows what instead of hanging out with _us_." Sasha crossed her arms over her chest. "You better come dance your ass off with me next time."

"I promise." Charlie nodded and gave her friend a hug goodbye. Charlie turned to Tyler and gave him a quick hug as well.

"Be safe out there kids." he pretended to lecture them. "And you" he pointed at Seth "You better have her home by midnight or so help me god."

Seth checked his phone and laughed. "Well, we've only got two hours Charlie, let's go."

"You're insane, you know that right?" Charlie replied to her friend, who nodded. "I've been told that before. Have fun with whatever you two end up doing I guess." Charlie ignored the smirk he gave her and hoped Seth didn't notice. 

"We'll see you guys later." Seth gave a little half wave and Charlie followed him away from her friends.

"So what do you want to do, any ideas?" She asked him once they got outside. The slightly cool breeze felt good after being in the hot club. She was wearing black jean shorts and a loose fitting black crop top so she hoped it wouldn't start to feel too cold while they were outside.

"We could just head over to the boardwalk for now and go from there."

"Okay, that sounds fun." Charlie agreed. "How many times have you guys toured through here?"

"A lot." Seth answered with a laugh. "The boardwalk is always fun even late at night. Maybe even especially fun late at night when there's less kids and less people in general."

"Ooh, are you secretly like super antisocial and hate being around crowds of people? Is this whole outgoing and slightly arrogant personality all a lie?"

"No, but nice try." He glanced down at her with an amused smile. "I'm a very extroverted person. I just hate when it's overcrowded and you can barely move around. And I don't like screaming kids. Sue me."

"Seth Rollins hates children and wants them to shut up." That's a great title for a heel turn article if I've ever heard of one."

"Look at you, maybe _your_ missed career was being a journalist."

"Yeah right" Charlie couldn't help laughing at the idea of her being a journalist. "I can't even talk in front of crowds, let alone interview people. I'd have a nervous breakdown."

"Do you really get that nervous?"

"Oh my god, yes. I was terrified to meet everyone when I came here." Charlie admitted "Like, Tyler inviting me out that first night was such a help. I owe him big time, it took the pressure off a lot."

"Well for what it's worth it doesn't show. With the way you brushed me off so fast I would've never guessed you were nervous." he laughed at the memory.

"Well, I had quite a bit of tequila in me at that point and you really pissed me off." She laughed along with him. "It took away any nerves I may have had around you."

"And here we are three weeks in and you still never answered my question that first night."

"About whether I live with someone" She looked up at him, "Aka whether or not I have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, you shut me down real quick and I've never even wanted to broach it again. I didn't want to get that brush off again." She laughed and playfully pushed him.

"I lived with my best friend Jess in Austin."

"And Jess is a boy or a girl?" She could tell he was purposely messing with her, so she decided to mess with him back.

"Jess is a boy, we've been dating for two years actually." Charlie lied, watching the shock cross his face.

"Seriously?" His eyebrows arched a bit as he studied her expression for a hint at whether she was lying or not.

"Yeah." She nodded, trying her hardest to keep a straight face. She was enjoying his confused expression too much to ruin it too quickly. "We met when I first moved there."

"Cool." He replied, nodding and clearly at a loss for words. "I never would have guessed. You never mention anyone so I just assumed you didn't have a boyfriend."

"I mean, he just never really comes up I guess."

Seth stopped and stared at her, his eyes fixed on her before a wide smile took over his face. "You're totally lying. I don't believe you."

"Why?" She laughed, "I'm not lying."

"Yes you are, you're trying to hide a smile right now. You're not a very good liar."

She burst out laughing and gave up. "Fine, you caught me. I was just messing with you. Jess is a girl and she's my best friend."

"I knew it, there's no way it wouldn't have come up at any point. That would just be weird."

"So what about you? You never mention anyone. Is there some gorgeous girl waiting for you back in Iowa?"

"Nah" He replied, "Just my very cute dog."

"You have a dog?" Charlie's face lit up at his admission.

"Yeah." He looked amused by how excited she was. "It's not _that_ weird of a thing. Do I look like I'd not like animals or something?"

"No, of course not." She laughed at him. "I'm just jealous, I wish I could have a dog."

"Don't, it's just hard when you're on the road like we are to be honest. I wish I got to see him more. Some people are sad to leave their families I'm always sad to leave my dog again."

"So you're like 'whatever see you later' to your family and then cry about your dog?"

"I mean, it sucks leaving my family also don't get me wrong. But leaving Walter is the worst."

"Your dog's name is Walter?" Charlie let out a loud laugh that drew the attention of an older couple walking along the boardwalk. "That's so weird and yet, so cute."

"It's not weird." Seth defended his choice of name. "He's named after Walter Peyton from the Bears."

"You're a nerd."

"For liking football?"

"For naming your dog Walter." She giggled at his expression of amused surprise. "He sounds like quite the proper gentleman."

"He _is_ a perfect gentleman."

"I'm sure he is. He sounds adorable."

"I mean, I can show you some pictures if you want."

She stopped immediately and looked up at him, nodding quickly. "Yes please."

"Come on, let's just go sit on the beach and I'll show you." He smiled down at her, "You're gonna like my dog more than me."

"Oh, absolutely, no question." she joked back, following him towards the dark beach area.

"You know... I can't even be mad about that."

The beach was mostly empty at this time of night, with most of the people left in the area drawn to the bright lights of the boardwalk.

It was probably also due to the slight chill in the air. It wasn't exactly a perfect night for swimming or being at the beach. They found an area near one of the dunes close to the water and sat down.

Charlie slipped off her flip flops and pushed her feet into the cool sand as Seth looked through his phone. "Here, if you scroll through it's almost all pictures of him for a bit. They're from the last time I was home."

She looked at the screen and was surprised to see a tiny black frenchie in the photo he'd pulled up. "Oh my god, he's so little." She had to fight from making squealing sounds as she flipped through the photos of him.

"He's so cute, oh my god." One of the last photos was one with Seth holding him and Walter's head nuzzled underneath Seth's chin and she couldn't even contain a small squeak of happiness.

"This is like the cutest thing I've ever seen. I can't believe you have a tiny little frenchie."

"What kind of dog were you expecting?" He laughed, taking his phone back from her.

"I don't know, a bigger one. Like maybe a pitbull or a lab or something."

"Nah, I love my little guy. I mean I love pits and labs too, but that little guy is my favorite thing in the world."

"I literally can't even handle how cute he is." She couldn't even wipe the smile off her face. She kept picturing that adorable photo of Seth and Walter.

"He's the best." Seth agreed. "So you don't have any animals then?"

"No, I wish." Charlie frowned, "Jess and I couldn't have pets in our apartment building and growing up my mom was allergic, so I've never really been able to have any pets."

"That fucking sucks."

"I know. Eventually when I get a place where I can have pets I want a pug."

"Why a pug?" he laughed at the dirty look she gave him.

"Don't tell me you have something against pugs or we're gonna have a problem Rollins."

"I have nothing against any dogs." He held his hands up in mock surrender.

"I love them. Their little squish faces are so cute."

"I mean in the 'it's so ugly it's cute' way I guess."

"We're gonna fight right now." She warned him, holding her fist up. He bit his lip and fought from laughing at her.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure I could win that one."

"No way, you're going down."

"Bring it then." He motioned for her to try and his smile made her grin even wider. She moved quickly and wrapped her arm around his neck like she'd seen Sasha do in quite a few of her matches. "What now?" She said through laughter, knowing she wasn't even holding her arm tightly. She was just being goofy.

He laughed and held her arm in place as he stood up, easily lifting her up with him. "I mean, you can't really do much now. Your feet can't even touch the ground." He teased her, allowing her to wrap her other arm around him so she was more stabilized.

"I'll just hang here until you get tired." She offered up. "It seems to be my only option if I'm being honest."

"You should definitely leave the fighting to the wrestlers." she could feel his laughter because she was pressed against his back.

"Yeah, I'd have to agree." She gave in reluctantly, "Put me down."

"Nah, you're stuck now." He spun in a circle, leaving her laughing as her legs flew out around them. She wrapped her legs around his waist when he stopped spinning, acutely aware of how tightly she was pressed against his back.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he kicked his shoes off into the sand near hers.

"I'm dropping your ass in the water."

"Don't you dare." She replied, tightening her hold around him as he walked towards the water. He stepped into it and she tensed up. "Seth, please don't. I'll be so mad."

He dropped quickly and rose back up, pretending he was going to drop her and laughing loudly as she tightened her grip and let out a nervous squeal.

"I'm not going to drop you." He finally promised, allowing her to loosen her grip slightly.

"I hate you." She grumbled, laughing and tightening her legs around him again as he did it again.

"That laugh says otherwise." he responded quickly, walking back out of the water and letting her drop to her feet. "Seriously though, that water felt nice. We should go swimming."

"You're joking right?"

"No, the water was the perfect temperature."

"I don't even have a swimsuit." She protested, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Neither do I, I'm just gonna wear my boxers."

Charlie was glad it was dark out, because she felt her cheeks heating up at the thought of that. "There is no way I'm going swimming in my underwear."

"What's the difference between underwear and a bikini?" He couldn't help laughing at how stubborn she was being in saying no.

"Not much admittedly. But it's like mentally different. A bikini you buy knowing everyone is gonna see it. Underwear is just... private."

"I'm not going to be a creep and stare at you." His expression grew more serious. "I just wanna go swimming. C'mon, be spontaneous with me." He pretended to pout and she felt her resolve slipping away. She stepped towards the water and dipped one of her feet in. She had to admit it felt amazing, the water was the perfect temperature despite the chilly night.

But the idea of stripping down to her underwear in front of him was enough to give her serious anxiety. "Only if you look away while I take my clothes off."

"I promise." he agreed quickly, his face lighting up excitedly as he realized she was agreeing.

"Turn around then you jerk." She laughed and pushed him a little bit further away from her and waited for him to turn the other way. She quickly slipped off her shorts and crop top and threw them over by where their shoes were.

She walked into the water until it reached just under her bra and told him he could turn around again.

She still felt awkward knowing he was gonna be seeing her in her bra and underwear but it was almost more coverage than her bikini was anyways so she let it go.

She watched as he pulled his t-shirt over his head, noticing the way his back muscles rippled as he did. She looked away as he slid off his pants, staring out into the ocean and the dark sky.

She turned at the sound of him wading out next to her and smiled at him. "See, I told you it was nice."

"It is" She agreed, wading deeper, feeling more comfortable as the water covered more of her. "This is a lot better than being at some stupid club."

"It really is." he agreed before dipping his head under water. "See aren't you glad you decided to come have a random adventure with me." He pushed his wet hair back and grinned at her.

"Yeah, I guess." She replied, "Except now we have to walk back to the hotel with wet underwear under our clothes."

"Or you could just not wear your underwear under them" He joked, earning a splash from her as she gave him a warning look.

"That's not happening."

"I mean, I didn't say you _should_. I just said you could."

"You know, you're so funny I can't even handle it." She replied dryly. The moonlight made his features even more handsome, bathing him in soft light as he smiled at her.

"So is hanging out with me one on one as scary as you thought?"

The question caught her off guard and she knew her face gave that away. "I wasn't..." she trailed off, trying to choose the right words. "I just worried if we hung out alone and it ended up sucking I didn't want us hating each other and being awkward when we hung out again with our friends."

"Why would it suck?" He looked at her curiously.

"I don't know. You could decide I'm boring or just not like me once you're stuck spending time with me one on one without our friends as a buffer."

"Honestly, that's ridiculous. I don't find you boring at all." He replied gently. "You overthink too much."

"So I've been told" she laughed, "Stop with the serious talk and have fun. That's what we're supposed to be doing remember?"

"True" Seth agreed and met her eyes with a mischievious smile. Before she could react he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder as she giggled in surprise.

"Stop it." She called out through her laughter.

"Ready?"

"Don't you do it" She warned him none too convincingly as she laughed through her words. He counted down to three and launched her into the water where she went under and popped back out. She pushed her hair back and wiped some of the water away from her eyes, hoping her mascara lived up to being waterproof and didn't smudge all down her face.

She splashed water at him again and laughed as he returned the favor. After a while they decided to head back onto the beach and Charlie immediately regretted the swim when the cold air hit her now wet skin.

"Oh my god, it's freezing." She shivered, using her small shirt to try and towel off a bit before she put her shorts back on.

Seth grabbed his t-shirt and used it to dry off a bit as well before he tried to put his jeans back on. "Here" He held out his hoodie to her once he finally got his jeans on. "It's nice and dry, it'll be warmer than your wet top."

"What about you?" She felt guilty accepting his hoodie knowing he'd used his own shirt to towel off as well.

"I spend most of my days shirtless, a walk back to the hotel won't kill me." He laughed, "Take it."

She gladly accepted it and thanked him as she put it on over her bra, zipping it up most of the way.

"Do you want to head back?" Seth took his phone out of his pocket and checked his phone, "It's already after 1."

"Ooh, Tyler is going to be so mad at you." she teased, recalling her friend's fake warning earlier.

Seth shook his head at her, "We'll just have to sneak you back to your room I guess."

"I suppose we will" She agreed, "We wouldn't want papa breeze getting upset."

Seth laughed loudly. "Honestly, I'm just glad you didn't call him daddy breeze just then. I was scared for a second."

"Oh my god, stop." She stuck her tongue out, "That's so weird."

"That's why i'm glad you didn't say it." He laughed even harder at her expression of disgust. "Come on, let's head back."

She almost wasn't ready to leave. She just wanted to lay on the beach, look up at the stars and relax. But she was also uncomfortable with her wet underwear under her shorts so she knew she'd be better off just agreeing and heading back now.

She may need to text Sasha and see how she was feeling tomorrow and declare they needed a beach trip. But this time with actual swim suits and towels.

She couldn't help smiling on the walk back as the people that were still out, probably leaving various bars and clubs, took in the sight of her and Seth walking back in semi wet clothes and him walking down the street shirtless.

One couple in particular stared him down, the girl looking at him with obvious lust and the guy she was with shooting him a death glare. "You're causing quite the stir." She commented, looking up at Seth who looked confused by her comment.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're pissing some of these guys off because their girlfriends are practically drooling."

He looked over to his right and noticed the girl in question who gave him a coy smile. "Hey" he tilted his head up in a cocky hello to the petite girl, very obviously trying to piss off the guy she was with.

"Hey, keep your eyes on your own girl man." The guy warned him, shooting Seth a dirty look.

"Hey, I'm just being friendly."

"Yeah, be friendly to your own girl dickhead."

Charlie shifted uncomfortably and grabbed Seth's arm pulling him forward to keep walking. "Let's go Romeo, I don't feel like ending the night with a fight."

"Relax" Seth's voice was still totally calm and easygoing and it almost annoyed Charlie. "I wasn't going to get into a fight with him. I just like messing with guys who act like that. It's so ridiculous."

"You were the one being a jerk, I hate to break it to you." Charlie shot back, "He was probably drunk and jealous, you didn't have to try and get a rise out of him."

"I didn't have to, but it _was_ fun."

Charlie sighed and rolled her eyes, walking a little faster so she was in front of him. Every time she started to get comfortable with him he had to do something to irritate her, it never failed.

"C'mon Charlie, don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you." She answered a bit too quickly, giving her answer less credence. 

Seth grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop and talk. "I was just fucking around. You're taking it too seriously."

"I'm not mad at you." She answered more honestly this time. "I think guys that get jealous that easily are tools also. You doing that just made you look like a jerk though and you're not. Just saying."

"So your consensus on me is that I'm not a jerk then?" She sighed and stared at him without saying a word. She couldn't believe that's all he got from that. "I'll take it." He let go of her hand and started walking back to the hotel.

"For the record I think you're not _actually_ a jerk but you have an arrogant side that makes you seem like a jerk."

"You still said I'm not a jerk." He sing songed back to her, glancing at her with a wide smile.

"Whatever makes you happy Rollins." She mumbled back, smiling to herself when he turned away from her again.

"You think they'll let me in the hotel with my shirt off?" He asked her as the hotel came back in sight finally.

"Yeah, but I think they'd probably give you a dirty look and wouldn't be happy about it."

"They've probably seen worse." he put the wet t-shirt he was carrying on despite his obvious reluctance and Charlie couldn't help noticing the way it clung to his musles even more.

How he looked just as good in a shirt as he did without one astounded her. It wasn't even fair.

"I'm sure they have." She laughed as he opened the door for her. "They've probably seen some really messed up stuff actually. You being shirtless probably wouldn't even phase them."

"Too late now, I'm already wearing this soaking wet shirt."

"It wasn't my idea to go swimming in our underwear." Charlie shot at him as they got on the elevator.

"You should have stuck to your guns and forced me to use common sense."

"I tried, but _someone_ wore me down with puppy dog eyes and begging."

"It was worth it." He nodded more to himself than to her. "What floor are you on?"

"The seventh floor."

"I'll walk you to your room." He pushed the button for floor seven and leaned against the wall of the elevator. His eyes looked heavy and tired, she could tell he was ready to sleep. 

"You don't have to you know."

"Yeah, I know. But I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't."

He held her gaze for what seemed like a moment longer than what would be normal, a heavy silence falling between them.

"I thought we already came to the conclusion you weren't a jerk." She joked, trying to break the weird silence.

"Yeah, but I have to live up to that I guess or what's the point." He answered back playfully, the vibe returning to normal much to Charlie's relief. When the elevator stopped she lead him to her room door, pausing outside of it. "Do you want your hoodie back right now?"

He looked at her surprised, raising an eyebrow at her. "You're not wearing a shirt under there right?" his eyes drifted to the crop top she still had in her hand.

"Oh my god Seth." She gently slapped his arm, wide eyes meeting his. "I didn't mean I was gonna just take it off and be half naked in the hotel hallway. I can put on a shirt really fast and bring it right out to you."

He bit his lip and nodded, looking a bit flustered if she was being honest. She knew he'd already seen her in her underwear on the beach, but it had been dark. It would be a lot different, and she'd feel a lot more vulnerable, if she just pranced about in her bra in the bright ass hallway outside of her room.

"Don't worry about it. You can give it back next time you see me. It looks good on you anyways."

"Okay, sounds like a plan." Charlie answered awkwardly, ignoring his compliment and looking down at her feet again. "Well, thanks for forcing me to be spontaneous and have fun tonight. I had a really great time."

"I did too, I'm glad we left and did our own thing."

"See you tomorrow maybe?"

"Yeah, maybe." He nodded, taking that as his cue to start heading back towards the elevator. He took a few steps backwards and gave her a small smile, "Goodnight Charlie."

"Night Rollins."


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie rolled over onto her stomach on her beach towel, letting her back soak up the warm rays of the sun next to her friend Sasha Banks. The two of them were the only ones who had decided to come to the beach. They'd be leaving that night to head to the next town, so the guys had decided to go to then gym rather than join her and Sasha at the beach.

"So... what did you and Rollins even end up doing last night after you ditched me?" Sasha rolled to her side so she could look at Charlie.

"We actually ended up here." Charlie shielded her eyes and met her friend's gaze. "That's what gave me the idea. I wanted to come during the day time and actually get to lay in the sun."

"You guys just went to the beach?" Sasha looked unimpressed. "What did you even do? It was too cold to swim."

"We just talked I guess." Charlie decided to keep it to herself that they _had_ in fact gone swimming, both of them in their underwear. Some things were better left to herself.

"That's so boring."

"I don't know, it was nice." Charlie shrugged, "I had a good time just relaxing and getting to know him."

"And?"

"And what?" Charlie raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Nothing happened."

Sasha laughed loudly and shook her head at Charlie. "That's not what I meant. But it's funny you jump right to that." Sasha looked at her suggestively. "I was just getting at, now that you got to know him more what did you think?"

"I think he's actually kind of nice."

"See, I told you he wasn't as arrogant as he pretends to be." Sasha laughed, "He just liked to pretend he's cool."

"Yeah, he was much more down to earth for the most part last night."

"For the most part?"

"He decided to act tough on the way home when a girl checked him out and had to act hard to her boyfriend."

Sasha couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "Well, sometimes he's an idiot, I'll give you that. That's just who Rollins is."

"Yeah, that's what I gathered from it." Charlie agreed with a laugh. "It was nice though, honestly. I'm glad we ducked out, even if you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm mad Seth charmed you away."

"I was not charmed." Charlie argued, pointing at her friend with a warning glare. "I just mentioned I wasn't feeling it at the club and he convinced me to go and do something else."

"You say convinced, I say charmed."

"Say what you want." Charlie ignored her friend and rolled over onto her back.

"I invited him to come with us today, he said he'd probably swing by after the gym."

"Wait... what? Why'd you invite him?" Charlie rolled back over immediately to stare at her friend in surprise.

"I just... did?" Sasha looked at her with a puzzled expression. "I saw him in the hall of the hotel when he was leaving for the gym and I was going to grab some fruit from the breakfast bar. I mentioned you asked me to go to the beach and said he should stop by if he wanted to."

Charlie sighed and flopped onto her back again, closing her eyes and trying to relax and soak up the sun. "Oh my god, did something happen between you two last night?" Sasha sounded far more intrigued.

"What? no." Charlie gave up on relaxing and sat up so she could properly talk to her friend. "Why would you even say that?"

"You just looked so worried when I said I'd invited him, I thought maybe you were avoiding him because maybe you hooked up or something and now you were being awkward."

"Jesus Sasha, no." Charlie laughed, "I was just surprised. Since the other guys all said no so they could go to the gym I thought it was just going to be us. That's all."

"Okay, if you say so."

"I swear to you, nothing happened. I would have told you."

"Whatever, that's what I get for getting getting my hopes up." Sasha teased her with a wink.

"Why would you get your hopes up that Seth and I hooked up last night?"

"I don't know, because it would be fun to watch the ensuing chaos."

"Remind me why you're my friend?"

"Because you love me."

"Yeah if you say so." Charlie rolled her eyes and laid back down, "Just let me tan in peace."

"So did you _want_ something to happen with Seth last night?"

"Sasha I will smother you. It won't be easy but I _will_ try my hardest."

"That's all the answer I needed anyways." She could hear how smug Sasha sounded and she fought to ignore her and failed.

"I don't like him. Like, for real Sasha, I don't." Charlie made a face as she realized how that sounded, "That's not true either, I like him as a friend."

"Relax girl, I'm fucking with you."

"Okay, I mean, whatever... it doesn't matter to me."

"I'm sure it doesn't." Sasha laid down and closed her eyes, "Just don't picture him with his shirt off and you'll be fine convincing yourself you're not attracted to him."

"Fuck off Sasha." Charlie giggled and laid back down next to her friend. "Guys and girls _can_ be friends without it being anything more."

"I know, but I've seen the way he looks at you."

"Bullshit."

"You can believe me or not, but it doesn't make it not true."

"For the record, I've seen the way he looks at me and it's not any different from how any of the other guys look at me."

"Be honest though, do you think he's cute?"

"Think who is cute?" A familiar voice broke their conversation and both girls opened their eyes and sat up in surprise. Charlie looked up at Seth and forced a big smile.

"Tyler." Sasha played it off perfectly, not even flinching under pressure. "I was teasing her saying I think he has a crush on her and she was saying he's practically like her brother at this point."

"Yeah, I mean, she's clearly crazy right?" Charlie laughed, her laugh sounding forced and nervous even to her.

Seth met her eyes and she saw a flicker of a smile pass his lips before he shrugged. "I don't know, I don't really see it. You guys are always together but I don't get that vibe."

"Told you." Charlie gave Sasha wide eyes, hoping she'd end it now and not keep trying to torture her.

"Guess you're right. None of the guys like you." Sasha smirked as Charlie gave her the finger.

"I'm sure _someone_ would like you." Seth replied.

"Gee, thanks Seth." Charlie's tone dripped with sarcasm and she gave him a dirty look. "Can I share your towel." Seth asked Charlie, who nodded and slid over a bit. She chose to ignore the look Sasha gave her as he sat next to her.

He was wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt, and his hair was still up in a messy bun, probably from working out. "So how long have you two been here?"

"A few hours." Charlie answered a little too quickly. She wasn't trying to seem so on edge, but she was worried he'd heard more than just the end of their conversation.

"You okay?" Seth looked at her, his eyes giving away slight concern.

"I'm fine, don't worry." She smiled up at him. "Just tired."

"We _were_ out pretty late." He leaned back, using his elbows to prop him up and stretching his legs out across Sasha's towel.

"Oh, were you guys?" Sasha wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Seth laughed and winked at her, "You know how we do."

"God, you're such a dork." Sasha rolled her eyes at him, a smile giving away her amusement. "So I heard you two hung out here once you stole her away from us."

"Yeah, the goal was to head to the boardwalk, but we just ended up on the beach."

"Cute." Sasha replied, "You guys are so adorable together."

"Totally" Seth did his best impression of a valley girl, "We're best friends for life."

"For sure." Charlie laughed as Seth sat up and put his arm around her. Charlie made a face and gave a peace sign to Sasha.

"God, you guys hang out one night and you replace me."

"I'd never replace you Sasha" Charlie blew her a kiss.

"Better not, I'll whoop this nerd's ass."

"Let's see what you got Banks." Seth motioned for her to come at him, flexing his one arm.

"Don't even try, the Boss here could take you, easy." Charlie cut in, laughing at his exaggerated hurt expression.

"And just like that our reign as best friends is over."

"It wasn't meant to be. She can't have more than two best friends." Sasha agreed.

"Who says I can't have more than two best friends?"

"It's like the laws of the universe Charlie, come on." Seth shook his head at her as if he was disappointed in her.

"Yeah, it's me and Breeze with you til' the end." Sasha pointed at Charlie, "Don't forget it."

"I could never." Charlie put her hand over her heart, "I promise."

"So not to interrupt this whole girl power love fest you two have going on" Seth glanced between them, "But who are you riding with later?"

"Me?" Charlie asked, despite him obviously looking at her as he asked.

"Yeah, of course. Sasha is obviously going to be driving her own car with her husband."

"I was just gonna travel with the boys like usual."

"You realize this is a pretty long trip this time right? Do you really want to be sandwiched in the middle seat between Kofi and Tyler?"

"I don't mind. I mean Tiffany and Lexi always invite me to ride with them, and they're cool and all but I'm still closer with the guys, and I kind of feel like I'd be imposing on them to be honest."

Seth pressed his lips together in an attempt to hold in his laughter. "Charlie, I'm seeing if you want to ride with me. I've got plenty of space, it's just me."

"You don't have anyone who rides with you? Aren't you friends with just about everyone?"

"Well Dean used to ride with me every time because he hates driving. But now he rides with Renee. And Cesaro used to ride with me all the time but he's hurt right now so he's not on tour with us."

"You should ride with him" Sasha grinned, mischief clear in her eyes. Charlie shot her a warning glance.

"All my stuff is already loaded into E's car since we had to be checked out of the hotel by eleven."

"We're going to the same place, I'm sure they won't mind if you want to." Seth took in her expression and shrugged, trying to play it off like he was unaffected. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I just figured I'd offer since I have room and since we had fun last night hanging out. I don't know... I just wanted to throw it out there."

"I'm not upset" Charlie cursed under her breath, feeling guilty. "You just caught me off guard. I mean, I don't think they would get mad if I switched this time... right?"

She really did have a lot of fun with Seth last night. But it was a close to six hour car ride, and they were still getting used to each other. Then again, he had a point about being smushed in the back seat. E's car was pretty big, but so were Kofi and Tyler, so she was always semi smushed. It would probably seem worse on a long trip like this one.

"I mean, they don't own you" Sasha laughed. "You should go with Seth. You'll get there faster without twenty stops for food anyways."

"That's true." Charlie agreed. She knew Sasha had ulterior motives, but she _was_ right either way. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I can ride with you, thanks."

"I guess I can ride with you is such an excited answer." Sasha teased Charlie.

"I'm not trying to be apathetic" Charlie complained, "I know it'll be fun. I just also know Tyler and Big E especially are gonna give me a hard time."

"Oh they sure are. Because I would give you a hard time if you ditched me twice in two days for this jerk too."

Seth grinned at her insult and shrugged, "I can't help it that she likes hanging out with me."

"Alright, both of you take it down a notch." Charlie sighed, "You're both ridiculous."

"Were they going to pick you up here after the gym?" Sasha finally changed the subject from trying to mess with her to something serious.

"Yeah, I was going to change into comfier clothes in the bathroom and then we were gonna head out. I'll call them and let them know."

"Can I call and let them know?" Seth's eyes glittered with mischief.

"I think I'll handle it."

"No way, let him do it. It'll be way more fun." Sasha protested, motioning for Charlie to give her phone to Seth.

"You two are evil. I think Tyler, Xavier, E and Kofi are like my nice friends and you two are the evil friends that balance them out."

"I'll accept that." Seth nodded and took her phone.

"Put it on speaker." Sasha chimed in excitedly. Seth laughed and put it on speaker. "I'm seriously reconsidering why you both are my friends. Especially you Seth."

Seth pretended to be hurt, "Why especially me?"

"Sasha is my girl, I could never really hate her."

"Yeah she started out hating you remember?" Sasha added in with a wicked smile.

"How could I forget?" Seth replied.

"I can go back to hating you if you're a jerk."

Tyler finally answered and Seth motioned for them to shut up.

"Charlie, what's up? We were just going to call you." Tyler's always friendly voice greeted them over the speakerphone.

"Hey Breeze, it's Seth actually."

"Uh... okay, Hey Seth. Where's Charlie? And more importantly why are you calling me from her phone?" Tyler's voice carried a bit more concern now.

"Charlie's fine, relax." Seth read his concerned tone as well as Charlie had.

"Why are you with her Seth?" there was a pause before Tyler continued "You aren't still with her from last night...right?"

"For fucks sake Tyler I loaded my bags into E's car with you this morning. You saw it was only me and Mona in my room." Charlie couldn't help cutting in, her irritation at his suggestion getting the best of her. He had damn well seen it was only her and her roommate in her room.

"You could have been hiding him."

"Oh my god, I don't even need friends. Why are any of you my friends?"

"What she's trying to say is, no I'm not still with her from last night." Seth laughed, his whole face lighting up with amusement at her expense. "But also that she's going to ride with me today."

"What? No she's not, she already loaded all her stuff into E's car. Since when? And why are you with her? I thought it was just her and Sasha heading up to the beach."

"Sasha invited me to hang out with them at the beach so I headed up here after the gym. I just figured I'd offer since it's just me right now in my car and E's car is pretty packed."

"That's super lame man." Tyler complained, "I can't believe you're stealing her from our car."

"No one is stealing me. I figured he's right that it's a long trip tonight and that you guys would have more room if just this once I rode with Seth." Charlie gave Sasha the finger as she laid back on her towel laughing hysterically at Tyler's reaction.

"Whatever, do what you want. But you're gonna miss out. You know we're better than Rollins."

"You are the best, and you're my best friend. But I just figured I'd keep him company and give you guys a bit more room since it's gonna be a six hour drive."

"What exactly does _keeping him company_ entail?" She could hear the suggestive tone he was using and wished he was there so she could properly glare at him.

"I swear to god Tyler next time I see you I'm gonna murder you."

"He knows I'm kidding." Tyler laughed hysterically. "I just like getting a rise out of you."Seth was grinning and Charlie gave him a dirty look in Tyler's place.

"It's cool though. Have fun with Rollins, we'll miss you."

"You'll see me tonight or tomorrow."

"You better ride with us next time. You're not allowed to trade us in for him."

"You guys bickering over her like she's a shiny toy is adorable." Sasha cut in.

"I would never trade you guys for him." Charlie replied, ignoring the look Seth gave her. "You're my ride or die, you know this."

"Better stay that way." Tyler's laughter brought a smile to her face. "If he annoys you we'll meet you somewhere and save you."

"I'll keep you updated."

"Okay, bye Breeze." Seth cut in, "She'll be fine with me."

"Bye Charlie." Tyler answered back. "You suck Seth."

"Love you Breeze." Charlie rolled her eyes at Seth and replied to Tyler. "Bye Tyler."

"You know, you and Breeze would be so cute together." Sasha commented once Seth had hung up Charlie's phone.

"Her and Breeze don't have actual chemistry." Seth shrugged, earning a curious look from Sasha .

"They do to me." Sasha replied, "I think they'd be like the most adorable couple. They're always together and smiling and it would be so cute."

"I'm just saying I don't see it."

"Whatever you say Seth." Sasha flipped her purple shades down and ignored him, going back to tanning.

"Seth's right for once. There's nothing there with Tyler, we're just friends."

"I know" Sasha agreed. "I'm just saying it would be cute alright."

"We probably would be, just because Tyler is super adorable with everyone."

"If you say so." Seth looked between the two of them and shook his head.

"You know one time, during maybe the second week I was here we kissed." Charlie laughed as she recalled the awkward memory.

"What?!" Sasha rocketed up to a sitting position and stared at her. "How did I not know about this?"

"Because it was weird and meant nothing." Charlie shrugged, "We were watching a movie and got really drunk and were just being goofy. And he asked whether I thought we were friends or if we were more and I said I didn't know. So he kissed me and right away we both broke apart laughing and were like yeah definitely just friends."

"I can't believe you right now." Sasha gave her a look of disbelief. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about that right away."

"It was just dumb" Charlie shook her head at her friend. "It wasn't like... a thing. It was just an awkward thing done out of silliness to be honest." Charlie glanced over at Seth who was just messing with his cell phone and ignoring them.

"You're just ignoring this bombshell?" Sasha asked him, nudging him with her foot.

"I don't know. I don't have an opinion on it." Seth replied. "Is that like a test you do with all of your close guy friends?" He asked Charlie, a smug smirk spreading across his lips.

Charlie pushed him and groaned. "I hate you."

"You say that, but maybe you need to make sure." He started to lean in, both of them laughing as she shoved him away again.

"Nope, I'm pretty sure of that one."

"I mean, you _could_ try though." Sasha earned a middle finger again from Charlie. Sasha ignored her as her phone beeped and she checked it. "That's Mikaze, he's here. As much as I loved hearing about Charlie's awkward tyler breeze makeout session I guess I need to go."

"She never said they made out." Seth cut in quickly.

"Yeah, I never said we made out. It was like a quick, two second kiss." Charlie grinned at Seth, "He has my back."

"He just doesn't want to think about you making out with Tyler." Sasha stood up and grabbed her beach towel and purse, cutting Seth off before he could protest. "I'll see you two later. Have fun on your drive."

Charlie stood up and hugged her friend. "You too, see you guys later or tomorrow. Be safe while driving."

"You guys too. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Well that leaves plenty of wiggle room." Seth shot back.

"You're not lying." She winked back and waved as she headed out to the parking lot.

"So should we head out then also?" Charlie asked, turning back to face Seth who was still sitting on he towel.

"It's up to you. We can hangout here still for a bit if you want."

"Yeah? Are we gonna share my towel and tan?" She laughed as he nodded and motioned for her to sit down. "Yeah let me just cuddle up to you on the beach." She shot back sarcastically.

"So is your only hesitation that it's in public then?"

She sat down next to him and met his gaze. "My hesitation is that I would never cuddle up to you Rollins... not anywhere."

"I'll have you know I'm a very good cuddler."

"I'm sure you are. You probably get plenty of practice."

"Ouch." Seth replied, looking surprised by her comment.

"I see you flirting with girls after shows all the time."

"Yeah? You keeping an eye on me?" Seth turned so he could look at her. She hated his dumb smug smirk he was always giving her.

"I just see it in passing. I'm not judging. You do you." She felt her stomach flip a bit as he smiled at her and bit her lip. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" He grinned at her.

"Just know that when I say I can't stand you I mean it."

"And yet you agreed to take a six hour road trip with me."

"Maybe I'm a masochist."

"Or maybe you just find me irresistible?"

"It's definitely one of the two." Charlie agreed. "So, should we leave?"

"We can if you want to." Seth laid down on the towel and motioned for her to join him. "Or we could just relax for a bit."

"I'm gonna have to pass still."

"It's comfortable." He closed his eyes and stretched before resting his hands under his head.

"I know it's comfortable, i was enjoying laying out before you came and hogged up my towel." Charlie stood up and grabbed her bag. "I'm gonna go change so we can leave."

"I'll wait for you here." Seth nodded, not opening his eyes. She rolled her eyes and scooped up sand, pouring it on his chest and giggling as he sat up and brushed himself off. He threw sand at her and laughed. "Go change you jerk."

"That's what you get for coming and stealing my towel." She yelled back, sticking her tongue out at him playfully as she went to change into her more comfortable clothes. She wasn't about to take a six hour road trip in shorts and a bikini top.


	6. Chapter 6

Charlie glanced over at Seth , meeting his eyes and laughing as he gave her a goofy smile before he continued to dramatically pretend to sing along to the song they were listening to. "You're ridiculous. You _do_ know that right?"

"Yeah, I'm aware." Seth agreed with a nod. He reached over to where his phone was in the middle console of his car and switched to the next song.

They'd been on the road for about four hours now and even though she'd never admit it to Tyler she was having a lot of fun. She'd expected the drive to feel longer since she wasn't used to being on the road for a longer stretch yet. But it was already close to 8 pm and time had flown by so far.

"Can I just say that for the record I never would have guessed you were such a nerd." Seth smiled even wider and shrugged off her comment. "I get that a lot actually. What exactly did you think I would be like?"

"Well..." Charlie hesitated, biting her lip before confessing her original assumption. "I kind of assumed you were like one of those cocky gym bro type of guys." She couldn't help but laugh when he shot her a dirty look. "Like... woo sports! Let's go make some gains bro." She did her best impression to tease him and could barely finish her impression because she was laughing so hard at the scowl he gave her.

"Fuck you." Seth replied, his laugh afterwards giving away his amusement at her horrible impression. "What about me seems like that?"

"It's just the vibe I got."

"No wonder you hated me."

"I hated you because I thought you were blatantly just trying to see if you could get in my pants." She replied, "I was wrong, and made a snap judgement. I do that sometimes. I'm working on it."

"Why _do_ you tend to do that?"

"If you get fucked over by enough people you tend to put up walls." Charlie looked out the window at the dark tree line they were driving alongside. When she looked back over at Seth he looked surprised.

"Damn girl, come to the gym with me. I'll train you to kick people's asses next time they try to fuck you over."

"That _does_ seem like a much healthier way of coping with it."

"Maybe not" Seth agreed. "But I promise you it's a hell of a lot more satisfying."

"I believe that actually. I may have to take you up on that some time."

"Any time. Just let me know and I've got you." Seth glanced over at her and smiled. "By the way, thanks again for riding with me."

"Thanks for inviting me. It's actually been a lot of fun."

"Yeah, well don't tell Breeze that. He'll go to creative and request a match with me so he can get a chance to kick me around a few times."

"I'll just tell him it was horrible and I hated every second of it then."

"He'll think you hate my guts again." Seth ran a hand through his hair, pushing some strands of hair that fell free from his messy bun out of his face.

"To be fair saying again would imply I ever stopped."

"Wow, you're so funny. I don't see why being a comedian was never one of your career aspirations." Seth shot back. He pretended to pout and focused his chocolate brown eyes on hers, giving her puppy dog eyes before focusing back on the road.

"Oh stop it." She reached over and shoved him playfully. "You know I'm kidding. Plus, I think you can handle it."

"Oh, I can handle it." Seth replied, raising his eyebrows at her suggestively. Charlie rolled her eyes at him and was about to reply when he continued talking. "It's obvious you're crazy about me anyways."

"Oh? Is it?"

"Yeah, it's okay. You don't have to pretend it's not true." His usual cocky smile spread across his lips and she shook her head at him.

"What gave me away?"

"It's all in the facial expressions. You try too hard to look annoyed with me all the time. It's obvious beneath all that annoyed exterior that you're super into me." He glanced over at her and pressed his lips together, containing a laugh. "See there's the look right there. You _look_ annoyed, but I see through it."

"Wow, you totally caught me." Charlie replied, playing along with him. "I didn't want you to know... but I just want you _so_ bad Seth. Can you pull over? Now that you know I can't keep my hands off of you." Charlie did her best to sound convincing as she flirted with him. She bit her lip to contain laughter of her own as he looked over at her, his expression giving away that he was a little flustered.

"You're the worst."

"Don't be mad just because you got beat at your own game." Charlie replied with a satisfied grin. "You can try to make me flustered but just remember girls will always be better at that game."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Charlie glanced over as they passed a road sign advertising the restaurants at the exit they were approaching. "Hey, can we get off here maybe? There's a McDonalds and I could actually really go for a McFlurry and some fries."

"Wow that's quite the balanced dinner." Seth replied to her request sarcastically.

"Excuse me. Please don't shame my dinner choices." Charlie pretended to be offended. "I've been wanting a McFlurry for like two days. This is serious business."

"My bad. I had no idea it was so serious."

"Well Lexi was talking about it when we were working yesterday and it made me really want one." Charlie laughed at the look he gave her. "Plus what's the point of being an adult if you can't choose to have fries and ice cream for dinner?"

"That's some pretty air tight logic. I can't argue that." Seth nodded "We can definitely stop and get some food."

"Yay! Thank you" Charlie smiled over at him. "If we weren't in a car I would probably hug you right now."

"Hey, I'll gladly take a raincheck on that."

"Yeah, we'll see." Charlie replied, rolling her eyes at his attempt at flirting again.

"There's actually a rest stop right after this exit so we can get the food and then just stop at the rest stop to eat."

"Are you one of those people who's super crazy about their car and won't let anyone eat in it or anything like that?"

"What? No." Seth sounded confused by her question. "Why?"

"Just checking." Charlie laughed. "I always get nervous when people are psychotic about their car. I don't want you to hold a grudge against me if I drop a fry on the seat or something."

"The only way I'd get mad is if you just left it there or something." Seth looked at her like she was crazy.

"Well I wouldn't ever do that anyways."

"Then I guess I won't kick you out."

"If you did I would just call my boys to come get me. And they'd be mad at you for abandoning me on the side of the highway."

"I'm pretty sure they would kill me."

"Probably. We could hide your body in the woods I guess."

"Well... damn." Seth placed a hand over his heart and pretended to be shocked by her comment.

"I mean we gotta do what we gotta do if you leave me on the side of the road."

"Remind me to never piss you off."

Charlie laughed loudly and smiled over at him. "As long as you don't leave me on the side of the road I think we'll be okay."

Seth pulled into the drive thru of the McDonalds and put his hand over Charlie's as she dug for her wallet. "I've got it."

"I can pay for my food, you don't have to do that." She argued, shooting him a stern look.

"It's easier to just use one card and I don't have cash. I've got it, seriously."

"Whatever. You guys always make me feel guilty when you pay for my stuff."

Seth gave her an annoyed look of his own. "Don't feel bad. It's not a big deal. You can pay me back some other time by buying me a drink next time we go out."

"Fine, that sounds more fair."

"Do you want anything besides the fries and McFlurry?"

"Just a Dr. Pepper." Charlie answered quickly. "Thanks Seth."

"No problem." Seth ordered their food and when they got to the window he passed the bag and drinks to her as he was handed them by the employee.

"If you really want to pay me back you can feed me some of the fries I ordered."

Charlie laughed and reached into the bag, pulling out a few fries and leaning over to put them in his mouth. "You're an easy one to please huh?"

"Most of the time." He agreed after he finished the fries she'd shoved in his mouth. He got to the rest stop fairly quickly and pulled into a spot. The headlights of his car illuminated a picnic table across the field to the right of a small open pavilion.

When he cut the engine the field was drowned in darkness again and Charlie couldn't help the feeling of uneasiness that swept over her. "Seth this rest stop is super creepy."

"What? Why is it creepy?" He turned in his seat to meet her eyes now that the car was off.

"It's just so dark. And it's right next to the woods. I don't know about this."

"Come on Charlie, I'll keep you safe. I promise." He reached over to her and took the bag of food before getting out of his car, leaving her to grab the drink carrier with their drinks and her McFlurry. She could hear the amusement in his voice and knew she was probably making a fool of herself.

"If I get murdered and you somehow live I'm going to haunt the shit out of you." She yelled to him as she got out of the car and hurried to catch up to him.

"I'll take the risk." Seth called over his shoulder, laughing at her threat. "Relax, your eyes will adjust to the darkness and it won't seem so bad in a few minutes."

Charlie sighed and set the drink carrier on the table, sitting across from Seth. She didn't want to admit it to him, but she was afraid of the dark. She always had been. And it was only made worse that she was also surrounded by dark woods and at a desolate rest stop.

It was essentially the perfect set up for a horror movie. But she knew she had to suck it up or she'd look crazy. She was being irrational and she knew it. But she'd seen one too many horror movies.

"So... do you take girls to creepy rest stops often?" She tried to break the silence and calm her own nerves with a joke.

"I can honestly say no." Seth laughed. He passed her her fries and his eyes met hers, softening as he held her gaze. "I promise nothing is going to happen. Dean and I have stopped at this rest stop a few times while traveling through this area."

"That doesn't mean something bad won't happen now." Charlie countered with a sigh. When she saw the look he gave her she cringed. "Sorry, I'm being crazy, I know. I've just seen too many horror movies. I tend to freak myself out sometimes."

"I fucking love horror movies." Seth answered, his eyes lighting up at her confession.

"And yet you clearly learned nothing from them." Charlie teased him, their usual back and forth banter easing her nerves a bit.

"How about this. If a murderer comes after us I'll toss you the keys to my car and fight him off so you can escape."

"That sounds fair." She laughed and nodded.

"Okay, so relax now." His smile never failed to make her smile in return. "We should hangout and have a movie night soon. We can watch some horror movies or something."

"That would be awesome" Charlie agreed. "As long as we can have it in your room."

"That's fine with me. Why though?"

"Well I know you have a room to yourself."

"Oh, okay. You just want to be able to get me alone." he responded playfully, winking at her. She hated the way his flirting always sent butterflies to her stomach.

"I mean, whatever you need to tell yourself." She shrugged, "It's really more that Mona and I aren't really friends or anything so I don't like hanging out in our room too often if there's another option."

"My room it is. That's definitely the perk of having a room to yourself. I remember when I had a few shitty roommates when I was just starting in the company before I met Dean and Roman."

"Yeah, well we can't all be as important as you and get rooms to ourselves unfortunately."

"Yeah, it's a nice perk of being so great."

"I'm sure it is." She agreed with a laugh.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Seth seemed to switch gears and his question sounded more serious. "If you don't want to answer it's fine, it's just been bothering me."

"Okay? I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little nervous now." Charlie bit her bottom lip as she met his gaze. "Go for it I guess."

"It's just... I've noticed you're always kind of closed off when anything about you comes up. Are you just always like that, or is it just to me? Because if it's something I'm doing that makes you uncomfortable I want to be able to stop doing it, you know?"

Charlie felt a pit form in her stomach the way it always did when anything about her came up. She felt even worse knowing that was something he was genuinely worried about.

"You're not doing anything wrong Seth." She answered honestly, her voice shaky due to her nerves. "I just don't like talking about myself. I'm not really an open book kind of person."

"I get that I guess." She could tell he was at least trying to be understanding. "We can't all be super confident and outgoing like you." She teased him with a gentle smile.

"That's true." he laughed and nodded. "I just want to get to know you better. So I wanted to make sure it wasn't something I was doing to make you uncomfortable with me."

Charlie felt a smile form at her lips and she felt her heart beat faster in her chest. "I want to get to know you too. So I'll try my best to not be so closed off." She hesitated, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Go ahead and ask me something and I promise I'll try to answer honestly."

"Okay" Seth paused and thought about what he wanted to ask her. "What do your parents think about you doing this?"

"What do they think about me going on a road trip with you tonight?" Charlie joked with a wide grin.

"yeah, of course. That's exactly what I meant."

"Well, my mom said to behave myself and to make sure I leave enough room for jesus between us at all times." Charlie could barely keep a straight face as she said the line.

Seth laughed loudly and shook his head at her. "You're terrible. I swear I really might hate you."

"Your smile says otherwise."

"Seriously though, what did they think about you taking a job with the company? It's not like working for the WWE is a normal, conventional job."

"Honestly, they have no idea I'm even here or working for the WWE."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I don't really talk to either of my parents. So neither of them have any clue where I am or what I'm doing."

This was one of the main reasons she hated talking about herself. It always eventually lead down the path towards her difficult background. And once people found out even a small bit of it they always looked at her different. She didn't want Seth, or any of her friends here, to look at her like she was damaged goods.

"Okay, well good for you." Seth's answer completely blindsided her and she stared at him in surprise. "I mean, I'm sure it's for a good reason. So good for you for being independent and badass enough to get where you are by yourself."

She was at a loss for words and she honestly wanted to walk over and hug him. "Thanks Seth." She managed to get out what felt like a weak thank you. "Most people just look at me with pity like I'm some damaged flower."

"Fuck that, they clearly don't know you then. Because from what I've seen of you, you don't seem like a damaged flower at all. You seem like a really interesting and tough girl who can hold her own." Seth shook his head. "People are stupid. Who can say they honestly come from a picture perfect family? My guess is no one."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that." Charlie agreed with a laugh.

"Trust me, I don't think any of us here would look at you like that."

"Thank you Seth." She hoped he could see how much she honestly meant that. Seth held her gaze and her heart hammered even harder in her chest.

Finally he broke eye contact and glanced up at the sky allowing Charlie to take a deep breath and try to compose herself better.

"You know, we spend so much time in larger cities that when we're somewhere you can actually see the stars it catches me off guard."

Charlie followed his gaze and had to admit it was beautiful out here. "I lived in Chicago for a lot of my childhood and almost no stars are visible there. Austin was a little bit better, but not much. It's so pretty in the country."

"I only ever lived in Iowa until I joined the WWE and it was always nice like this out there. If you really wanted brownie points with girls you'd take them out to this big, open field and and tell them you wanted to just hangout with them and stargaze."

Charlie laughed and smiled at his confession. "Yeah? Was that like the slam dunk if you wanted to get some?"

"Oh yeah, worked like a charm." Seth laughed and nodded. "I had a serious girlfriend most of high school though, so I only took advantage of that trick a few times before I met her."

"So you were that guy who had a girlfriend through all of high school?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Seth nodded "I met her my sophomore year and we were together for a long time after that."

"Not any more though?"

Seth raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "The tables have turned huh? Now you're fishing to see if I still have a girlfriend?"

"Oh, bite me. I'm assuming you don't since you're always being a huge flirt." Charlie sighed and shook her head at him.

"No, we're not together any more." Seth replied, still looking amused. "Do you want to head out? Or is it okay if we just chill for a bit."

"It's up to you. If you want to rest a bit we can." Charlie responded, "You're the one who's been doing all of the driving. We can take a break still if you want."

"Yeah, let's just chill for a bit." Seth stretched and yawned. "Hey, wait here a minute." He seemed to get an idea and stood up.

"What? Where are you going? I don't want to sit over here alone."

"It'll be quick, I promise." He reponded, walking back to his car before she could protest again. She watched him throw their McDonald's garbage away on the way to his car and then he disappeared as he went to look in his trunk.

Charlie pulled out her phone to amuse herself. She wanted to take her mind off of the woods being right behind her and that she was pretty far from Seth if something did happen. _Stop. This isn't a horror movie, it'll be fine._ She chided herself mentally, trying to shake off her unease.

She took a selfie with a big, forced frown and sent it to both Tyler and Sasha with a text following it saying 'When Seth leaves you alone in the creepy dark woods.'

Tyler texted back almost immediately and she smiled at his concern. ' _What do you mean he left you alone in the woods?'_ She could always count on Tyler to have her back.

'We're at a rest stop. He just ran back to his car for a minute and left me alone at the dumb picnic table out here. I was mostly kidding.'

_'You're an idiot. I was worried.'_

'I don't think Seth would ever actually abandon me in the woods. I assumed you'd know I was joking.'

_'I figured, because you're always a pain in the ass. But I had to make sure.'_

'My hero.'

_'I hope he does leave you there.'_

'Yeah, I'm sure you do. Want to hangout and get lunch or something tomorrow?'

_'Yeah. Once we're done with run throughs and stuff I'll text you.'_

'Okay, talk to you then.'

Charlie closed out her texts from Tyler just as Sasha texted her back. **'Good. You probably did something to deserve it.'** She laughed and smiled at her friends text and responded with a winking emoji.

She looked up to see Seth finally coming back, carrying a blanket over his arm. "What's that for?" She motioned to the blanket he was carrying.

Seth laid out the blanket on top of the picnic table and smiled. "Getting more comfortable." She watched him climb onto the table and laid down on his back on the blanket. "Come on, join me."

"Really? Are you trying your high school moves out on _me_ now?" Charlie joked, smiling as he looked over at her.

"I'm just trying to be comfortable while I take a quick break from driving."

"Yeah, I'm sure." charlie replied sarcastically. "You've got game Rollins. I'll give you that."

"Clearly not. Because it's clearly not working on you." He joked back.

She had to admit, laying on the table next to him seemed a lot more comfortable than the picnic table bench she was sitting on. She also didn't hate the idea of being so close to Seth. But that thought was a large part of what was keeping her from joining him.

She'd been doing a decent job of keeping him at a slight distance since they'd become friends. They were always extremely flirtatious back and forth with each other. But since they had only ever hungout in a group it had always provided a decent buffer to where it never seemed like anything more than playful banter.

But ever since she'd spent time hanging out with him alone yesterday he'd been running through her mind even more. She had been so worried to hangout with him alone. She was worried without their friends around they'd annoy each other or not click as well as she thought they did.

But it only ended up showing they got along even better than she'd ever expected.

And if anything it had only made their flirting worse. As much as she had been hesitant about driving with him tonight she'd been enjoying it more than she would care to admit.

"Fine, be that way. I'll just be nice and comfy up here by myself." Seth's voice interrupted her thoughts. Charlie bit her lip but gave in, climbing up next to him. Seth sat up and smiled, clearly pleased that she'd finally given in.

"I wouldn't want to bruise your ego." Charlie gave him her weak excuse.

"You're such a good friend."

"I know, I really am." She smiled and let him put an arm around her shoulders.

"Come on, lay down." Seth leaned back, gently pulling her down with him so her head was resting on his bicep. Charlie tried to focus on the stars rather than how close she was to Seth and how fast her heart was racing in response.

She knew this wasn't even as bad as how flirty they'd been at the beach last night. But somehow laying next to him, his arm around her, was making her more tense than being in her underwear with him in the ocean. How that made sense she didn't understand.

She glanced over at him to see if he looked nervous at all, and to her dismay he didn't. He looked entirely at ease lying next to her.

"Are you comfortable? If you need more space I can probably move over a little bit."

"I'm actually really comfy" Charlie answered him. She was genuinely okay, but even if she hadn't been she also didn't really want him moving further away from her either.

"Okay, good." Seth sounded pleased with her response. She felt him shift a little bit, his arm tightening around her slightly as he got himself more comfortable.

Charlie sighed and cuddled into him a little bit more as a breeze blew by and made her shiver. She had been okay in the shorts and thin hoodie she was wearing at first, but staying out longer was starting to make her cold.

"You cold?"

"A little bit, but you're nice and warm so I'm okay."

"If it'll help you can get closer."

"Oh yeah? Are you offering to be my personal heater?"

"Absolutely." Seth answered quickly, "You can come use me as your heater any time." She felt a blush come to her cheeks at his obvious insinuation and was glad he couldn't see her face.

"Why am I not surprised at all that you would be up for that?" Charlie laughed, hoping it wasn't obvious he had made her flustered this time.

"I'm just a very kind and giving person."

"Oh... I'm sure you are." Charlie replied quickly, "I've seen how you are when talking to girls after shows."

"Wow" Seth drew the word out, amusement in his tone. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that I always see you out flirting with girls after shows. Turning on that Seth Rollins charm." Charlie answered him. "I believe Xavier lovingly referred to them as the usual post show ring rats one time."

"You keeping an eye on me?" Seth sat up, forcing Charlie to follow suit and sit up also, with her turning slightly so she could face him. "Are you jealous?" Seth's wide smile gave away his amusement.

"Not a chance." Charlie knew it was a lie. At least a little bit. She did always feel a little bit jealous when she'd see him flirting with girls outside of the arenas. But she knew it was stupid to feel that way. "I just always see you out there talking to them. They're usually really pretty for what it's worth. I don't blame you."

"I don't know, sounds like you're keeping an eye on what I'm doing. Which sounds like you're a tiny bit jealous to me."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Charlie sighed and shook her head at him.

"Definitely." Seth agreed with a laugh. "I would love if you were jealous."

"That's a little weird to be honest." Charlie replied. "But, regardless, you're going to be disappointed because I definitely do _not_ care who you flirt with or hook up with."

"I'm not hooking up with any of those girls. Groupies aren't really my thing." His expression turned serious for a moment. "So if that's what you're worried about you really have no reason to be jealous."

"I already told you I'm not-"

"-Not jealous, I know." He interrupted her, arrogant smirk clear on his face. "Well even though you're not jealous I just want you to know you're my favorite person to flirt with."

"Wow, thanks." Charlie pretended to be flattered. "That's the best compliment I've ever received."

"I'm serious though. With girls like that it's just an easy way to keep up appearances with fans more than anything."

"Oh, yeah right Seth." Charlie laughed loudly.

"I'm serious." Seth smiled back at her, licking his lips before continuing. "We're specifically told to seem available to an extent to keep fans interested in us both in and out of the ring." Seth sounded genuinely serious as he explained it to her. "You can ask any of the others. They'll tell you the same thing."

"That's actually kind of creepy." Charlie made a creeped out face. "Do people really need to think they would be able to bang their favorite wrestler in order to like them?"

"Eh, it's not that big of a deal." Seth shrugged. "People will want to fuck us regardless. That's just to keep them guessing and interested more than anything."

"Yeah I'm sure you'd have a really hard time retaining fans if you didn't go out and flirt with them after shows."

"Yeah, it is kind of hard when you're this ugly."

"I'm sure it is." Charlie refused to stroke his ago by denying he was ugly. He knew damn well how attractive he was. Annoyingly so most of the time.

"See. That's why I need to turn on the charm."

"I totally get it now." Charlie laughed as he smiled at her.

"Good, so now you'll know when you see me flirting with them that it means nothing to me. So you won't even have to be jealous."

"Oh my god" Charlie buried her face in her hands and sighed. "You're such a pain in the ass Seth. I _will_ know that now, except I never _was_ jealous in the first place." She met his eyes and decided to mess with him more when she saw his cocky smirk. "So for the record... when you flirt with me is it also a meaningless chore you just do because you're used to flirting with everyone?"

Seth rolled his eyes and put his arm around her shoulder again, pulling her into him. "Not even a little bit. I always look forward to turning on the charm and flirting with you." Seth wrapped his other arm around her, enveloping her in a tight hug and making her laugh.

"You're so goofy."

"I mean it. It either makes you blush, which is adorable. You flirt back with me, which is my personal favorite. Or you pull this really cute annoyed face. It's a win win for me regardless."

Charlie put her arms around his waist, hugging him back loosely and resting her head against his chest. She was comfortably resting against him when she felt her phone vibrate in her hoodie pocket.

She checked it and couldn't help but laugh at Sasha's text. **'So Mikaze said I'm a jerk and to make sure you're alive and thzt Seth came back for you.'**

"Hey, take a picture with me." Charlie glanced up at Seth, "Sasha wants to make sure you didn't actually abandon me in the woods."

"You told her I abandoned you?" Seth replied, giving her a dirty look.

"I may have texted her and Tyler. It was funny." Charlie nudged him and smiled, "Come on." She held her phone out and leaned into him, resting her head back against his chest.

Seth rolled his eyes but rested his head on top of hers and made a silly face. Charlie smiled and took the picture sending it to her friend in response.

"I can't believe you told them I abandoned you, you're so dramatic."

"They know I was kidding, relax. It was just funny."Charlie laughed at him. "I'm pretty sure they know you well enough to know you didn't actually leave me alone in the woods."

**'So I hope you know we're going to have a talk about this asap. I see you cuddling with him. You're cute or whatever.'**

'I don't know what there is to talk about. We're just hanging out.' Charlie replied to her text, playing dumb to her friend's text.

**'Yeah, just hanging out with his arms around you and you snuggled up into him. Get it girl, I expect some juicy stories from you tomorrow.'**

'Well you'll be very disappointed because that's not going to happen. That's not how it is between us.'

**'You suck.'**

'Sorry, I hate to disappoint but me and Seth are just friends. I'm gonna let you go. But we'll talk tomorrow.'

**'You better be letting me go so you can go jump Seth's bones.'**

'I'm letting you go so I can stop being rude by ignoring Seth while I text you. I'll be jumping no one's bones.'

**'Whatever. Be boring like that. talk to you tomorrow.'**

Charlie slipped her phone back into her pocket and smiled up at Seth. "What did Sasha say?"

"She said we were cute." Charlie replied, "She also asked me when I was gonna jump your bones."

"Sounds like Sasha" Seth laughed loudly. "But it does beg the question... when _are_ you gonna jump my bones?" Seth teased her.

"Try never." 

"Hey, it was worth a shot." Seth shrugged. "You _did_ say you kissed Tyler to make sure you didn't have feelings for each other. You never know."

"Oh, I know." Charlie replied quickly. "And I'm not going to hook up with you to make sure anyways you weirdo."

"Like I said, it was worth a shot." They both laughed and Charlie pulled away from him, returning to sitting slightly askew from him.

"You're a doofus."

"You seem to like me regardless." Seth shot back, earning a nod of agreement from Charlie.

"Yeah, I'm a sucker for idiots."

"Glad to hear it." Seth's silly smile set her stomach twisting nervously again. She bit her lip and met his eyes, both of them silently holding each other's gaze.

Charlie was the first to break eye contact and looked down at her hands as she played with the sleeves of her hoodie. She could feel the blush creeping across her cheeks and was glad it was dark out and he probably couldn't tell.

"We should probably hit the road again." Seth finally spoke up again.

"Yeah, I guess we should. I know you have to be up early to workout and go to run throughs and everything."

The disappointed feeling in her gut was unwelcome at best and somewhat scary at worst. She knew better than to fall for someone like him. It had never ended well for her in the past.

And yet she couldn't deny the pit of disappointment in her gut that he wanted to leave. She was enjoying spending time with him out here alone. Even if at first she'd been hesitant because of how creepy the rest stop had seemed.

Somehow he'd made it seem a lot more cozy. Seth hopped down from the table and held his hand out to her, pulling her towards him and off the picnic table when she took his hand. "At least we only have about an hour left of driving." He announced with a smile as he opened the trunk and threw the blanket in.

"Oh... good." Charlie answered, distracted with her thoughts as she climbed back into the car. She snuck a glance over at him as he started the car back up. Nah, there was no way she had feelings for Seth. If anything she had just been caught up in the moment because she was cuddling with him.

Anyone in their right mind would enjoy flirting with him and being that close to him. He was attractive and genuinely sweet, even if he purposely tried to act like a jackass at times. Anyone could get carried away with their thoughts when they were cuddled up with him like that.

There was no way she was starting to develop a crush on Seth. She just enjoyed spending time with him, same as before. If anything she was just letting Sasha's teasing get to her.

_"That's it"_ she assured herself, " _It was just Sasha getting in my head. It's nothing more."_


	7. Chapter 7

"I'm so full" Charlie collapsed onto Tyler's hotel bed. She clutched her stomach as she complained in a whiny voice, "I swear I could puke."

"Yeah well I told you not to force yourself to eat so much." She could tell by the tone of his voice Tyler was rolling his eyes at her. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." She shot back, "But the wings were so good. I couldn't help myself."

She felt Tyler settle onto the bed next to her, lying on his back beside her. "I'm just going to pass out here and take a nap. Thanks, goodnight."

"Wow, you're so fun to hangout with."

"You're the idiot who chooses to hangout with me."

"Get out of my room" Tyler pretended to try to roll her off of his bed. Charlie erupted into giggles and fought against him. "No, don't make me leave."

"No sleeping" Tyler demanded. He pretended to stop fighting her off the bed before pushing her playfully again and sending them into another fit of laughter. "Seriously. No naps allowed. By the way, you never did mention how your little road trip with Seth went last week. Don't think I forgot. I've just been waiting to ask."

"Yeah, I haven't mentioned it because you're just going to be rude about it." Charlie sat up and made a face at him. "And you never asked so I just didn't feel like it was necessary." "Me? Rude?" Tyler sat up and placed a hand over his heart, mouth dropping open in exaggerated hurt.

"Yes, you." She replied. 

"I won't be rude about it." Tyler gave in. "Seriously, how was it? Did you have a great time with your boo?"

"I _will_ smack you" Charlie warned him "Don't ever call him that again. I really will puke."

"Someone seems a bit touchy about it if it's not true." "It's _not_ true." Charlie shoved him, pushing him over as he dramatically sold her push and flopped over onto the bed.

"I mean, you're turning pretty pink for it not being true. But whatever you say." Tyler shrugged, a smug smile on his lips. "Regardless, how was it?"

"It was fun" Charlie answered honestly. "It'll never replace our obnoxious karaoke sessions though."

"It better not. You better remember who your first best friend was." She knew he was only joking, but he _was_ her first friend here. And he was her best friend. Him and Sasha were the only two she'd classify as her best friends.

"You're my only best friend here" She leaned against him, resting her head on his arm. "Along with Sasha." "I always have to share the spotlight." He complained. "Yeah, but you're my only male best friend. So don't go picking a fight with him."

"It _would_ be fun to give him shit."

"Probably, yeah." Charlie agreed with a laugh. She had to admit she loved when Tyler would give people a hard time. Even if it was her on the receiving end of it, she appreciated how much of a sarcastic goofball he could be.

"I'm going to tell him you hated it but that you don't know how to tell him so I just wanted to break it easy to him."

"Don't you dare." Charlie picked up one of the pillows and hit him with it. "Don't be mean." Tyler laughed loudly, wide smile on his face. "I'm going to tell him that next time I see him. He can take a joke."

"Whatever makes you happy" Charlie sighed. She shook her head at him but couldn't help a smile. "It'll make me _so_ happy." A spark of mischief lit up Tyler's eyes, "I could probably even get Woods to go along with it."

"You're ridiculous." Charlie sighed, "It was fun and a lot less cramped. I didn't ride with him because I prefer him over you."

"I know that" Tyler laughed at her, "It's just fun to mess with him."

"Well, I guess I can't argue that." Charlie gave in. "Messing with Seth is a lot of fun."

"Seriously though, be real with me. You two seem to be getting really close." "I wouldn't go that far." Charlie attempted to downplay her growing friendship with Seth. "We only hung out alone the one night when we left the club early."

"Yeah and then the next day he invited you to ride with him to the next town and that clearly went well. And you guys have been hanging out a lot whenever we all go out."

"We always were though. Like you said, it's as part of the group." "Okay, but don't act like you two aren't by each other a lot more now. I pay attention to these things so I can torture you at times like this."

"Lucky me" Charlie laughed at his wide smile. "He's a really cool person. We definitely have gotten a little bit closer since hanging out one on one. But I wouldn't say we're suddenly _really_ close like you're saying."

"Okay but you know he likes you right?" Tyler's right eyebrow raised as he studied her expression. "He does not" Charlie rolled her eyes and brushed off his statement. "We both are naturally flirtatious so we mess with each other. It's honestly just meaningless teasing. I'm not interested in him and he's not interested in me."

"Yeah okay" Tyler's tone was laced with sarcasm. "Whatever you want to believe."

"It's the truth." Charlie protested. "You can believe what you want. But there's nothing there. He doesn't have a crush on me."

"Whatever. Maybe you're right." Tyler sounded unconvinced, but she appreciated that he was ready to drop the conversation. "Want to put on a movie or something?"

"If by or something you mean take a nap I vote for that." "No, no way. We're either hanging out here and watching a movie or we're doing something fun."

"Napping _is_ fun sometimes." She pouted out her lower lip. "Sometimes, but not now. Come on let's pick a movie to rent." Tyler settled next to her leaning back against the headboard and opened up the on demand section on the tv. Just as he was pulling up the new releases a loud knock sounded on the door.

"See that's the universe telling you not to nap also." Tyler laughed. "Breezy, you in there" Xavier Wood's familiar voice yelled from the other side of the door.

"Wow the universe sure sounds like Woods." Charlie laughed and walked over to the door, letting their friend into Tyler's room.

"Oh good, you're here too." Xavier seemed happy to see her. "One less stop I need to make." Xavier jumped onto the end of the bed and faced where Tyler was sitting.

"Stops for what?" Charlie asked as she sat back down next to Tyler. She leaned against the headboard and tucked her feet under her legs so she was sitting indian style.

"I'm having a room party tonight since we're off to travel to the next town tomorrow."

"Ooh, that'll be fun." Charlie perked up. "Hopefully" Xavier nodded, "That's the plan. I'm telling people to start swinging by around 8. If you want to drink bring whatever you want."

"Cool, we'll have to go buy some stuff." Tyler seemed excited by the idea of the party as well. "For sure. I've gotta go spread the word to our friends. Invite Dango if you want."

"He might be hanging out with Summer." Tyler's voice gave away his unhappiness with the idea of that. "Yeah, well maybe if you came out with how you feel he wouldn't be." Charlie replied gently. She knew it was a golden opportunity to tease him like he always loved to do to her about Seth. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She knew he had real feelings for his friend Fandango. They'd recently started hanging out more and Tyler had even told her creative was thinking of having them become a tag team because they had such great chemistry. But Tyler refused to even consider that Fandango might return his feelings, and he always got down about it.

"She has a point Breeze." Xavier agree with Charlie. "No she doesn't." Tyler disagreed. "They're wanting to make us a tag team. I can't fuck that up by telling him I have feelings for him."

"I don't think it would fuck it up." Xavier replied calmly, "I think he seems like he has feelings for you also. You two have gotten really close really fast. I'm almost jealous. That's why creative wants to make you guys a team. They clearly see that also."

"I know we have good chemistry together. But that doesn't mean anything if he's only interested in girls."

"Look, I really don't think he only likes girls." Charlie admitted. "Whenever I see him backstage he's always trying to make me laugh by rating guys and girls that walk past us. He's joking, because he's goofy. But Seth is just as goofy with me and I guarantee you he'd never joke around with me in that way."

"I don't know." Tyler hesitated, a small smile crossing his lips as he thought about that.

"You _know_ Seth wouldn't even think to joke around like that unless maybe someone else brought that up first and then he might go along with it."

"It just seems like a reach" Tyler sighed, "Xavier isn't bisexual and he checks guys out sometimes."

"I'm not bi, but I can appreciate a beautiful man when I see one. And I'm not afraid to admit it." Xavier agreed with a huge smile. "Just see if he's free to come tonight. It won't kill you to ask."

"Yeah, and you can get a feel for it as you two drink and loosen up a bit." Charlie jumped in to play devil's advocate. "Plus, I _may_ have asked him last week what was going on with him and Summer and he said they were just friends and that he wasn't into her like that."

"You did not" Tyler turned on her, his face a mixture of worry and shock. "Tell me you didn't ask him that."

"I sure did." Charlie smiled wickedly, "I got tired of that being your main excuse."

"He probably thought you were hitting on him" Xavier broke out into loud laughter. "Probably" Charlie joined in laughing. "I probably should have said I'm asking for a specific blonde haired friend.

"I would kill you." Tyler glared at her. "Don't even think about it. I'll tell Seth you like him if you do." Tyler smirked as her smile fell and she shook her head at him.

"So you _do_ like Rollins?" Xavier perked up at that information. "I knew it."

"I don't" Charlie shot back quickly, giving tyler an annoyed look. "He's just being a jackass to get back at me."

"She says she doesn't." Tyler rolled his eyes. "But look at how much she blushes when you bring it up."

"Aww, you _are_ all pink and flustered right now" Xavier placed a hand over his heart. Charlie grabbed a pillow from behind her and threw it at Xavier. "You're the worst Tyler." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance.

"It's okay. He's a good looking dude. I get it." Xavier laughed even harder as he teased her some more.

"I don't have a crush on Seth." She grumbled under her breath. "You both can bite me."

"Whatever you say" Tyler held his hands up in surrender. "Just don't tell Dango you asked on my behalf and I won't tell Seth."

"You'd be lying to Seth because I don't have a crush on him. That's the difference."

"You two are adorable." Xavier stood up. "I'm gonna go spread the word about the party. But I'll see you both later. Tyler text Fandango. Charlie, you're lucky. I already did the work for you; Seth will be there later."

Charlie gave Xavier the finger, to which he replied by blowing her a kiss. "See you later Woods." Charlie waved as he left, closing the door behind him.

"Text Fandango. I'm gonna text Seth." Charlie pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Why are you texting Seth? Xavier said he already invited him."

"I'm just going to see if he wants me to pick him up anything to drink since you and I are going on an alcohol run anyways."

"Aw, you're so cute and thoughtful." Tyler didn't look up from his own phone as he teased her. "Stop being a jerk" Charlie replied, nudging him playfully. "I'm also going to see if Sasha and Mikaze want anything."

"Fine, I'll stop. I just like teasing you."

"I know you do. You're a pain but you're my favorite." Charlie admitted, leaning over and resting her head on Tyler's shoulder. "You're my favorite too" He rested his head against hers.

She noticed him check his phone more quickly than normal as it buzzed and she couldn't help but smile. "Did Dango text you back?"

"He said he'll be there." The excitement was clear in Tyler's voice. Charlie grinned and wrapped Tyler in a hug. "Yes! You better up your flirting game tonight."

"We'll see. I'm not going to promise that." Tyler replied hesitantly. "I said I'd get him some alcohol and he said just grab a pack of whatever beer I recommend."

"Aw, that's so cute." Charlie couldn't help but smile like an idiot at how happy Tyler looked. "That means he wants you to get him something special instead of whatever he normally drinks. He wants the Tyler Breeze touch."

"I think you're very much overanalyzing that" Tyler shot back, unable to hide the smile her words triggered. "Probably I guess." She admitted. "Seth said he'll just share whatever I'm drinking. And Sasha said she wants blueberry vodka and lemonade for a mixer."

"Oh my god, Seth wants to share whatever you're having?" Tyler mimicked her with an over the top loud voice and smile.

"Okay, you're right. Definitely overanalyzing" Charlie agreed and both of them devolved into a fit of laughter.

"What _are_ you going to be drinking?" Tyler asked once they'd stopped laughing at his ridiculous impression of her.

"Tequila. You know that's like my go to drink."

"Please tell me you're not going to be extra as fuck and mixing yourself tequila sunrise drinks all night." Tyler laughed at her.

"It's not that extra" she defended with a small laugh. "It's just orange juice and grenadine. But no. I'm just going to grab some lime margarita mix."

"Does Seth know you're getting tequila?"

"He should know that's my usual drink by now."

"You and I both know that boy does not drink tequila."

"Well... he's drinking it tonight I guess." Charlie smiled, "I'll be nice and get a six pack of beer in case he doesn't want the tequila though."

"I don't know. I'm kind of curious to see him drunk as fuck on tequila for the first time ever." Tyler's eyes lit up with mischief. "It could be fun."

"I'm kind of curious myself. He told me the first time we talked he gets too crazy drinking tequila. He'd probably just be even more loud and possibly more flirty knowing him."

"In that case I think you _should_ just get the tequila." Tyler wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"You need help." Charlie giggled at him.

"Or _you_ need help. And maybe it's the kind of help tequila could provide." Tyler shot back.

"I'll get him some beer." Charlie smiled, "I don't need any help with that."

"Just looking out for you." Tyler shrugged. He stood up and grabbed his wallet. "Let's go grab this alcohol before it gets too late."

"Yeah, I want to freshen up a bit and look cuter for later anyways." Charlie admitted.

"I'm sure you do." Tyler earned a pillow being thrown at him this time as the two broke out into laughter again. "You're the worst." She sighed as she followed him out of his hotel room.

"Or the best." Tyler disagreed. "You're right, definitely the best. My bad." Charlie conceded with a roll of her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

Charlie reached for an unused red solo cup as she entered the small kitchen area of Xavier's suite hotel room. She held it under the sink and filled it up with cold water from the tap. She was beginning to feel really drunk and wanted to counteract that with a bit of water to clear her head a bit.

After a few gulps of water she made her way back over to the living room area where Seth was hanging out and talking to Kofi. She stumbled slightly as she reached them and bumped into Seth. "You okay?" He turned concerned eyes on her. He glanced down at her cup, his eyes widening slightly. "Please tell me that isn't straight tequila in you cup right now."

"It is" she lied, wide smile on her lips as she met his eyes. "Please give it to me." He held his free hand out to her. "I swear I leave you alone with Sasha for ten minutes and you start drinking straight alcohol."

"Relax" She giggled at his worried expression. "It's just water."

"Good, I really don't want to have to take you to the hospital for alcohol poisoning later."

"Relax Seth, I'm not even that drunk" She lied. She hoped he'd believe her. But she knew those last few shots Sasha and Big E had talked her into had definitely caught up to her a bit. She was feeling a bit more woozy and drunk than she liked to.

"Yeah, I'm sure you aren't." Seth sounded amused as he put an arm around her shoulders. "I don't know who you're trying to lie to, but it's not working on me."

"Damn Seth, let the girl live" Kofi teased Seth with a smile. "She seems fine to me."

"I _am_ fine." She assured him once more. She gave Kofi a thankful smile as she leaned against Seth, appreciating that he felt sturdy. "You just need to drink more." She motioned to his cup of alcohol. She pushed it up towards his lips and he laughed and refused to drink it.

"Oh no, I'm good. _Someone_ got me tequila to drink so I'm feeling drunk enough."

"Wow what a jerk that person must be." She commented, shaking her head in mock disappointment.

"Yeah, she's the worst. I can't stand her." Seth agreed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You need to get better friends. Get rid of whoever that one is." Charlie played along.

"Nah, I guess I'll keep her around. It's not fun if you don't have at least one friend trying to kill you."

"True. You need someone like that to keep you on your toes." "Exactly" Seth agreed with a wide smile as he looked down at her.

"My god, you two are adorable." Kofi laughed as he glanced between them. "I'm gonna go get another drink. You two have fun." Charlie blushed as she shook her head at Kofi. He winked at her as he made his way towards the kitchen area.

"So... I heard through the grape vine that you hated our drive together and just didn't know how to tell me." Seth commented once Kofi had excused himself.

Charlie sighed before bursting out into a giggle. "You know that's not true. And I know that grapevine is Tyler Breeze."

"He really tried to convince me though." Seth laughed. "He almost had me believing it."

"You know I had a great time riding with you. He's just petty." Charlie smiled. "I can't believe you'd almost believe that."

"He was really laying it on thick." Seth replied. "But then I looked over at you and you gave me a huge goofy smile and I was like nah, if she hated me that bad she wouldn't still be hanging out with me."

"Don't let this smile fool you Rollins. I can't stand you." Charlie teased him, ducking out from under his arm. Seth feigned hurt, his chocolate brown eyes holding her gaze before shaking his head. "Wow, I'm hurt. I can't believe this has all been fake. I thought we really had a good friendship growing."

"Stop it" Charlie rolled her eyes and hugged him, her heart fluttering in her chest as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. "You know I don't actually hate you."

"Yeah, I know." Seth laughed. "Should we go hangout with our friends?" He motioned to where everyone had seemed to settle over in the bedroom area.

Charlie agreed and allowed Seth to guide her over to their group of friends. The party had died down a bit as it got later, and everyone left was mostly hanging out on the couch or the floor of the bedroom. Charlie and Seth sat down on the floor at the end of the bed, their backs resting against the bed.

"You guys are just in time" Sasha commented to the two of them as they sat across from her. "Your drunk ass host is trying to get us to play middle school games."

"What?" Charlie glanced between Xavier and Sasha in confusion. Xavier was grinning widely and burst into a giggle as she looked over at him.

"He just suggested we play spin the bottle." Mikaze explained with a laugh. "- _Modified_ spin the bottle" Xavier cut in as if that explained it well enough for everyone.

"What the hell is modified spin the bottle?" Seth asked. Seth put his arm around Charlie's shoulders again and she smiled as she leaned into him.

"It's basically truth or dare but you spin a bottle and whoever it lands on has to choose truth or dare and the person who spun chooses the punishment."

"You realize we're all adults right?" Seth asked with a laugh. "That sounds ridiculous."

"That's because it is ridiculous" Naomi agreed with Seth. Her expression gave away her clear amusement as she took in how serious Xavier was taking it.

"That's why it'll be more fun. Think of all the dumb shit we can make each other do." Xavier's prodding had clearly begun to work on Sasha. Charlie knew her friend well enough to recognize the look of mischief on her face. "I'm in. Fuck it." Sasha nodded.

"Hold up" Jimmy Uso cut in, "I'm in if we set a ground rule. No daring people in relationships to kiss people or anything like that." Naomi laughed at him, leaning against him as she smiled. "Unless they both say it's okay. Then it's okay." She added in.

"You ain't kissing nobody" Jimmy warned her, a small smile on his lips as he shook his head at her. "Nobody." he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss as she smiled against his lips.

"I think that's fair" Renee agreed from where she was sitting on the couch next to her boyfriend, Dean Ambrose.

"Yes! That's a good idea." Xavier cheered as people finally got on board for his idea. He hurried over to the kitchen and grabbed an empty wine bottle. "Everyone sit in a circle on the floor."

"Come sit by me Charlie" Sasha patted the empty spot next to her and pouted at Charlie. "Let Dean and Renee sit over there by Seth where there's more room."

Charlie was comfortable leaning on Seth but she sighed and nodded, heading over by Sasha. "Wow, okay. I see how it is." Seth commented, shooting her a dirty look as she sat across from him before breaking out in a smile as she shook her head at him.

"This is going to turn into a hot mess real fast" Sasha sounded absolutely delighted by the prospect of that. "You sound far too excited about that." Charlie laughed.

"Oh, I am." Sasha agreed. You know it's going to turn into everyone being dared to make out with everyone or eat gross shit right? That's who these nerds are when you really get to the heart of the situation."

"Does truth or dare ever _not_ become that though" Charlie agreed. "This is dumb. I feel like I'm in eighth grade again."

"If I get it and it lands on you I'm daring you to makeout with Seth." Sasha whispered to her. Charlie felt her face get hot and glared at her best friend. "I will kill you with my bare hands. Now I know to just pick truth if that happens."

"I'll just make that worse" Sasha giggled evilly. "I'd just go with dare if I was you."

"I hate you." Charlie whispered back.

"Sure you do."

"I _will_ if you do that."

"Oh please. You'd thank me in the end. Don't tell me you're still trying to lie and say you don't like him. You were just over there cuddling with him." Sasha smiled as she took in Charlie's nervous expression. "You two are always cute as hell and acting all cuddly and shit."

"I'm not talking about this here." Charlie whispered back. She glanced across at Seth to make sure he hadn't heard any of their conversation and was relieved to see he was just chatting with Renee and Dean.

"Whatever. You're no fun. Can we talk about it another time?" 

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Charlie agreed to get her to drop it. "When we're alone and not directly across from him."

"Deal." Sasha made her pinky promise. Charlie wanted to talk to her about everything anyways. Even though Tyler was equally her best friend, she wanted to have a girls talk about everything with Sasha. Sasha was less likely to be super obvious around Seth. Tyler would purposely act extra crazy around Seth most likely.

Normally she'd talk to her best friend in Austin, Jess, about this stuff. Especially because she was able to be far more objective being removed from the situation. But they had such different schedules right now that it was hard to keep in contact for longer conversations.

"So to start I'll just spin the bottle and whoever it lands on can spin first and start us off." Xavier talked loudly over all of the side conversations.

"Is it too late to back out?" Charlie commented as she watched the bottle spin. "It's definitely too late." Xavier responded with a wicked grin. "It'll be fun anyways."

"It really won't be" Seth commented, shaking his head at Xavier before shooting Charlie a small smile.

"I believe Seth more than you Woods." Dean added, his eyes following the bottle as it landed on Naomi.

"Ooh, here we go" Naomi rubbed her hands together excitedly before she spun it. When it landed on Kofi she laughed excitedly. "Truth or dare Kof?"

"Dare" Kofi answered easily. "I'm not afraid of you. Bring it."

"I dare you to drink half of the jar of olive juice."

"That's easy." Kofi rolled his eyes and marched over to the kitchen. He poured himself a solo cup of the juice from the jar of olives someone had brought and walked back over to his spot.

"Please don't puke on me" Becky Lynch angled herself away from him nervously as he plugged his nose and chugged the juice. Charlie felt her stomach turn as he gagged a bit before finishing it off with a few final big gulps.

"You better hope mine doesn't land on you" Kofi warned her as his face twisted in disgust and he coughed. Luckily for her it landed on Fandango who chose dare as well. "Okay... give Breeze a hickey." Kofi laughed loudly as Tyler's eyes widened.

"What? No way. That's too much Kofi." Tyler shook his head, his cheeks turning pink. "Don't worry Breeze, I've got this. I'm not afraid of any dare." Fandango smiled and laughed at Tyler being so flustered.

Charlie covered her mouth to stifle a laugh at her best friend's expense. He was already flushed pink before Fandango's lips met his neck.

"Jesus, sign me up for that" Carmella jokingly cat called as Fandango sucked on Tyler's neck, his hand resting on the side of Tyler's face. Carmella's comment only made Tyler more flustered.

When Fandango finally broke away from Tyler, he smiled widely. "That should leave a mark."

"Looked pretty thorough to me" Kofi replied with a wide smirk. "What'd you think Breeze?" Tyler glared at Kofi. "I think it's Dango's turn."

Fandango spun it and it landed on Carmella who chose truth. "Where's the weirdest place you've had sex?"

"Oh god" Carmella cringed at the thought. "An outhouse at a music festival. It was the first day so it was clean okay? Don't judge me."

"That's gross girl" Jimmy made a face, wrinkling up his nose in exaggerated disgust. "Oh please, if Naomi dragged you into an outhouse you know you'd do it too."

"I would not."

"Oh, _he would_." Naomi confirmed with a laugh. Carmella stuck her tongue out at Jimmy as she spun the bottle. Charlie watched nervously as the bottle landed on Seth. "Oooh, Seth" Carmella looked at him with a wide smile, mischief dancing in her eyes. "Truth or dare?"

"I don't know, truth I guess" He cringed nervously as he answered.

"Okay, if you had to pick one girl in this room to have sex with who would you choose?"

Seth shifted uncomfortably and shook his head. "Come on, I don't know. I'm not answering that."

"It's not that hard man, just choose one of the girls." Dolph Ziggler spoke up, his usual cocky smile on his face. "You have plenty of good choices."

"Can I switch to a dare?" Seth ignored Dolph and asked Xavier's permission. Xavier seemed to ponder the question and shrugged. "I guess so. But once you switch you can't switch back to truth."

"Fine" Seth agreed, "Dare."

"Okay" Carmella was unfazed by his choice. "Spin the bottle and whoever it lands on you need to make out with."

"Whoever it lands on?" Seth raised an eyebrow curiously. "Yep, boy or girl." Carmella nodded. "That's what you get for backing out."

"Carmella, I love it" Xavier cheered with a grin directed towards the gorgeous blonde.

"You guys fucking suck." Seth complained, his lips set into a hard line as he spun the bottle. Everyone was surprisingly silent as the bottle spun around, finally landing right between Dean and Emma.

"Oh shit" Carmella giggled, "I guess you get to pick your choice."

"Realistically he's been wanting to make out with me for years" Dean laughed loudly, an amused look clear on his face as he took in Seth's discomfort and leaned forward.

"Nah, I've got this" Emma replied, pushing Dean back from where he'd leaned forward. Emma crawled over to Seth, who seemed flustered as Emma climbed onto his lap so she was straddling him. Charlie felt her stomach drop as she noticed the light pink flush come to his cheeks as he looked at Emma.

"Remember, make out, no childish peck on the lips." Carmella reminded them. Charlie glanced down at her cup as Emma leaned down and kissed Seth hard.

"Damn, get it Seth" Dean teased Seth with a loud catcall. Charlie glanced up and saw Seth's hands resting on Emma's waist as she clutched the side of his face and kissed him aggressively. Charlie felt her stomach twist as she saw his fingers tighten on her waist as she arched her back to press against him more.

"Jesus, could she get her tongue any further into his mouth" Charlie made a face as she whispered to Sasha. She knew she sounded bitter, but she needed to complain about it. She felt sick to her stomach watching him make out with Emma. She knew she had no right to feel that way, but she couldn't help it. Watching him make out with Emma felt like a punch to her gut.

"Emma's wild. And she's been trying to get her hands on him for a while I think." Sasha whispered back. Sasha glanced at Charlie and bit her lip as she took in her expression.

"Guess today is her lucky day then." Charlie shot back. She toyed with the sleeve of her hoodie and tried to avoid looking over at Seth. It was like a car crash where she didn't want to look but she couldn't keep herself from glancing over every few seconds.

"I'm sure he would have passed up on making out with her if he had the choice." Sasha nudged her and offered a small smile. "Hey, don't look so down. You said you didn't like him right? So who cares if he makes out with Emma on a dare?"

"I don't have a crush on him. It's just awkward to watch." She glanced back at Seth as Emma finally broke away from him and crawled back over to her seat. "He looks awfully okay with it to me though." Charlie grumbled bitterly.

Sasha opened her mouth to say something but failed to find the words. She noticed Seth look over at her and she quickly averted her eyes, focusing on the carpet rather than looking up at him..

"Hey, are you okay?" Sasha asked her quietly. She could tell her friend was concerned by her sudden mood shift.

"I'm great. Don't worry about me." Charlie nodded forcing a fake smile to her lips, "I'm going to make myself another drink. I'll be right back." "Charlie wait-" Sasha tried to get her to stay but Charlie ignored her, pushing herself up and making her way tot he kitchen area.

She poured the remaining water from her cup into the sink and poured a good amount of Patron into her cup, finishing it off with some of her lime margarita mix.

She glanced back and saw everyone laughing at something Jimmy was doing and assumed he'd been the one Seth's spin had landed on. Her eyes landed on Seth who happened to look over and met her gaze, his brows furrowed slightly in concern.

She saw him move to stand up and hurried back over to her spot by Sasha before he could get up and talk to her. She had no desire to talk to him right now.

He'd probably lecture her about making a new drink anyways. And to be totally honest she still felt a little sick to her stomach from watching his make out session with Emma.

"I dare you and Naomi to switch clothes" Jimmy smiled and licked his lips as he met Xavier's eyes. "Babe- no" Naomi complained. "He's gonna stretch out my clothes."

"Too late." Jimmy shrugged, "Think of how funny it'll be." "Let's go woods" Naomi glared at Jimmy and stood up, pulling Xavier behind her towards the bathroom.

"You better turn your back when she changes man" Jimmy warned Xavier. "I will. You're the one who dared me to do this." Xavier shot back at him.

"He clearly didn't think that part through" Big E laughed his thunderous laugh, and had everyone else laughing with him for the most part.

"Okay" Naomi stepped out in Xavier's sweatpants and Dragon Ball Z Tank top "I don't even care if he stretches out or rips my clothes. These are far more comfortable."

"I hate you Jimmy" They all heard Xavier's voice before he stepped out of the bathroom. He spun around, modeling Naomi's leggings and crop top for all of them.

"Damn woods" Kofi cheered him on, "Guess I'm not the only guy around here that can rock a crop top." Kofi's loud laugh only served to goad on everyone else's already loud laughter.

"That's right. I'm killin' it." Xavier's usual goofy bravado was on full display as he flexed, wide grin lighting up his features.

"Leave the crop tops to me. that's my look." Kofi replied as Xavier sat down next to him once again. Xavier grabbed the bottle and spun it. "We'll see, I'm gonna have to see how this crop top thing goes."

Charlie felt a nervous pit form in her stomach as the bottle came to a stop pointing at her. She knew not to choose truth when Xavier would be asking the question. Xavier was just as bad as Sasha and Tyler when it came to ribbing her about her crush on Seth. She didn't want to risk him asking a pointed question about it.

"Dare." She squeaked out nervously.

"Perfect." Xavier flashed a mischievous grin and she knew she was screwed. "Spin the bottle twice and choose one of the two people it lands on to go into the bathroom with you for seven minutes."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Charlie glared at him. "You're daring me to go do some stupid seven minutes in heaven game?"

"Nope, not kidding at all. What can I say? Carmella inspired me. Don't be mad at me." Charlie shook her head at him, her gaze still narrowed angrily. She spun the bottle and watched anxiously as it spun around, finally landing on Dolph Ziggler. Worse was when the second time it landed on Seth. She noticed Tyler's face light up from where he was seated by Dango.

"Dolph." She chose quickly, letting her jealousy get the better of her. She barely knew Dolph, but she just couldn't deal with Seth right now. She couldn't stop picturing him kissing Emma, and every time it made her stomach twist with envy.

She stood up and shot back what was left of her margarita. "Let's go I guess." She could see the shock in all of her good friend's expressions and ignored them until she looked at Seth.

She felt an immediate pang of guilt when she saw his expression. His eyes lingered on her as he met her gaze, betraying his surprise. She knew him well enough by now to recognize that he looked at least a little hurt by her choice.

She swallowed her guilt and met Dolph's wide smile. She refused to look back at Seth and grabbed Dolph's hand, leading him into the bathroom.

"I'll knock when your time is up" Xavier told them as he shut the door behind them. Charlie was immediately met with exactly how awkward the situation was once they were alone and closed into the room together.

She knew she probably should have pushed her stupid jealousy to the side and just chosen Seth. They could have just hungout in here for seven minutes with no expectations attached at least.

She'd only even spoken to Dolph a few times in passing, mostly when they were both hanging out in catering. She liked him enough to talk to for a while, but this was awkward as hell to throw him into.

"Sorry" Charlie stuffed her hands in her hoodie pockets as she addressed the situation. "I know this is awkward as hell."

"You're sorry you chose me to be locked into Xavier's bathroom with?" Dolph laughed. "Being locked in a room with a hot girl doesn't even rank among the top ten most awkward or awful situations I've been involved in."

Charlie bit her bottom lip and shrugged, "Yeah, I guess it could be worse." "Look" Dolph started, his expression turning mostly serious for the first time. "We don't have to hookup or anything just because we were dared to come in here."

Charlie hopped up and sat on the countertop of the long sink area. "I know." She sighed as the image of Emma straddling Seth popped back into her head, sparking her anger again. "But I don't back down from a dare." She met Dolph's eyes and smiled "Besides... I can think of worse things than being locked in here with you."

 _Like watching the guy she didn't even know she really had a crush on make out with someone else._ The unwelcome thought crept into her head.

Charlie felt her heart hammering in her chest as Dolph stepped closer to her. "I like your style." Dolph stepped into her, spreading her legs just enough that he could be in front of her where she was sitting.

Charlie felt her liquid courage slipping away as she was presented with actually having to do this. Did she really want to make out with Dolph. He was gorgeous sure. But she knew he wasn't the one she really wanted to be kissing right now.

Charlie grabbed Dolph's shirt and pulled him down to her, hoping kissing him would at least help push the images in her head away. He smirked down at her before capturing her lips against his own in a rough kiss.

Charlie reacted immediately, kissing him back hard and wrapping her legs around his waist. He parted her lips and deepened the kiss, his tongue moving against her own as he pulled her tight against him.

She couldn't deny that Dolph was a good kisser, he was a great kisser even, and it had been a while since she'deven kissed anyone. But even as great as the actual kissing was, she still felt next to nothing. It just felt routine and like something she _had_ to do. Not something she wanted to do.

Dolph leaned her backwards until her shoulder-blades were against the mirror and lowered his lips to her neck. She bit her lip as she enjoyed the sensation of him kissing and sucking just above her collarbone. After a few moments she pulled him back up to her lips, kissing him hard again as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders.

Dolph's hands traveled down her body, resting firmly on her hips as he pressed down on top of her, his desire growing more evident as he kissed her harder.

"Okay love birds the time is up" Xavier knocked and yelled loudly through the door. Dolph broke away from her, taking a few deep breaths as he smiled at her. "Well, that was fun after all."

"Yeah." Charlie responded with a nod. "Who would have thought?" She took a steadying breath of her own and checked herself out in the mirror, smoothing her hair down and opening the door before Xavier could knock again.

"Did you two have fun?" Xavier looked amused as he glanced between the two. "Yeah, I guess." Charlie shrugged, her usual shyness coming back to her now that she was faced with looking at all of her friends.

She stepped around Xavier and made her way back over to her seat by Sasha. She looked over at Seth, her stomach twisting nervously as he met her eyes. His chocolate brown eyes held hers for a split second before he ignored her and turned to Renee to start up a conversation.

She felt the pang of guilt once again and clenched her fist so her nails would dig into her palm. "How was that?" Sasha's voice snapped her back to reality and Charlie shrugged half heartedly. "It was okay I guess."

Dolph sat down in the group again, a wide, cocky grin clear on his face. Charlie noticed Seth look over at him, giving him a cold glare before turning his focus back to Renee and Dean.

"Yo, Charlie, you ever gonna spin again?" Xavier snapped her away from her focus on Seth and she apologized. She spun it and it landed on Tyler who she gave a half assed dare to make up a rap.

Charlie felt herself spacing out again as her thoughts kept drifting to Seth and how guilty she felt. She couldn't stand the way he kept glancing over towards her but wouldn't meet her eyes.

She wasn't sure if she did the right thing or not by not choosing him. Sure she'd done it out of misplaced jealousy. But what if she _had_ chosen him? What if it just made things awkward between them? She wouldn't want that to happen either. So if that would have possibly been the outcome she _did_ think she did the right thing.

Her and Seth were just friends. She wasn't even sure why she felt as upset about Emma kissing him as she did. He could kiss whoever he wanted, because he wasn't going to be kissing her anyways.

Or, at least, that's what she _had_ been telling herself until she had to actually watch him kiss someone else. When she was actually faced with that it had been terrible.

And she knew deep down if she hadn't been feeling so weird about Seth kissing Emma she would have definitely picked him over Dolph because deep down she knew that it wouldn't have made it more awkward. They would have probably just hungout and talked like always until time was up.

And then she wouldn't have hurt his feelings like she clearly had when she chose Dolph.

"I think I'm gonna head out" Charlie mumbled to Sasha. The alcohol was starting to hit her harder and she was feeling too down to want to be here any more.

"No way, it's not even that late." Sasha held up her phone to show her it was only one am."

"I'm just feeling really out of it and drunk and I just want to go lay down. Sorry Sasha. Please torment Woods for me if you get the chance."

"Don't worry, I will." Sasha hugged Charlie, "Just be careful getting back to your room."

"I'll be careful, I promise." Charlie smiled weakly at her friend. Charlie pushed herself to her feet, wobbling slightly in place as the alcohol got the best of her. "I'm gonna head out because I'm really tired."

"Aw, lame." Tyler shook his head at her. "Don't leave yet. It's not _that_ late."

"Sorry. It was a lot of fun, I'm just feeling really exhausted all of a sudden." Charlie waved at her friends and made her way to the door before more of them could protest. "You guys have fun with truth or dare. Don't get too crazy."

"No promises when it comes to that" Dean countered with a wink. "See ya Charlie."

Charlie blew Tyler a kiss as she noticed his scowl and waved one last time before closing the door behind her.

She reached her hand out to lean slightly on the wall for support as she made her way to the elevator at the end of the hallway. She definitely should not have had that last drink. She was usually good at knowing her limits, but she'd gone well over it tonight.

She heard a door open and shut behind her and groaned. "Tyler go back inside. I just want to go to sleep" She started to talk as she spun around.

Her eyes widened as she took in Seth making his way over to her rather than her blonde best friend. "Oh... hey. What are you doing out here?" Charlie asked, her surprise evident in her voice.

"I'm making sure you get to your room safely." His matter of fact response seemed clipped and angry. "I'm fine. You can go back inside." Charlie crossed her arms over her chest as agitation took over her.

"Yeah? Are you? Because you're barely standing Charlie." Seth's tone sounded as agitated as she felt. "There's no chance I'm letting you head back alone."

"It's a few floors up. I think I can handle it. I'm a god damn grown up you know." The way he was snapping at her was only serving to stoke her irritation. 

"And what if something happens to you along the way?"

"Then I guess it's my fucking problem" Charlie shot back. "What's going to happen Seth? I think I can manage to get from Xavier's room to my own just fine."

"Anything can happen. You're a god damn mess right now. You're wobbling even just standing still." Seth snapped back at her. Seth looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath before looking back up and meeting her gaze. "Look, I don't know what I did that you don't want to be near me all of a sudden but I'm not risking something happening to you just because you suddenly can't stand me again."

"None of that is even true. It's not at all that I don't want to be near you." Charlie felt her stomach drop at his words.

"Yeah whatever Charlie" Seth's eyes hardened and he looked away from her. "Let's just get you to your god damn room so I can leave you alone."

"No."

"No?" Seth's expression was almost comically confused for a split second before he just looked annoyed again.

"I'm not going anywhere until you stop believing such a stupid thing." Charlie knew she was acting like a child. But she wasn't going to let him honestly believe she couldn't stand him or didn't want to be around him. Sure, she was annoyed with him. But none of that was remotely true.

"Well what the fuck is wrong with you then Charlie?" Seth threw his hands up in annoyance. "You wouldn't even look at me in there during that stupid game. And then you chose Dolph Ziggler?! Honestly... what the actual fuck was that about?"

"I don't know." Charlie looked down at her feet awkwardly. "You don't know?" Seth repeated her sentiment, annoyance still tinging his words. "How do you not know?"

"I don't know Seth." Charlie sighed and met his eyes once again. "I chose Dolph because I thought you might think it was weird if I chose you for something like that." _And because I was irrationally upset you made out with Emma._ She kept the true reason to herself.

"Please come here" Seth held his hand out to her, his expression finally softening. Charlie gave in and let him pull her into a hug. "Please just let me get you to your room so I don't have to worry."

"You worry too much" Charlie mumbled against his chest. "Yeah, I probably do. But only because you do dumb shit like getting far too drunk for your own good and then you think wandering around a hotel at one in the morning is a good idea."

Charlie stepped out of his arms and couldn't ignore the guilt still gnawing at her gut. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings by choosing Dolph over you."

"You didn't hurt my feelings." Seth laughed at her, "I was just pissed off. I still am honestly."

"At me?" Charlie felt her heart sink at the thought of him being mad at her. "What? No." Seth shook his head at her. "At Dolph. You're drunk as fuck and he gladly took advantage of that." Seth's eyes traveled to her neck and lingered there for a moment before he met her eyes again. "I'd really like to punch his fucking smug face in."

Charlie stepped back into Seth and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Seth stiffened in surprise before he wrapped her in his arms as well.

"I'm sorry. I should have picked you." Charlie admitted. "Yeah, well, it is what it is." Seth stepped backwards, looking her over carefully. "Are you okay though?" He turned serious once again as he asked her. "If he did anything..." His voice trailed off and rage passed over his features.

"He didn't" Charlie replied quickly. "I'm not drunk enough that I couldn't have stopped him from doing something if I wanted to."

Seth's face fell at her confession but he quickly covered it up with a small smile. "He better not have. I'll fucking kill him. When you came back looking out of it and wanted to leave right away I was worried he did something to upset you."

"He really didn't. I promise. He was a perfect gentleman." Charlie held his gaze. "Thank you though Seth. it actually means a lot to me that you care about me enough to be worried about me."

"Of course I care about you." Seth replied quietly. "I care about you a lot."

"You're a really great friend." Charlie laced her fingers with his own and squeezed his hand. Seth let out a sharp laugh and his lips pressed together in a tight line. "A friend... yeah." He nodded. "I try I guess. Come on, let's just get you back to your room. Okay?"

Charlie allowed him to pull her towards the elevator. His eyes were fixed on the ground and she couldn't help but notice his suddenly sullen mood shift again. She wanted to ask him what was wrong and if he was okay. But she wasn't even sure what to ask if he was okay about. She'd already told him Dolph hadn't done anything.

Charlie stumbled as her legs suddenly felt like spaghetti and Seth stopped walking.

"Jesus Charlie." Seth shook his head at her. "You're a mess right now." He laughed and held his arm out to her. "Come here, just lean against me."

She knew better than to turn him down and gladly allowed him to put an arm around her. She steadied herself against his side, an arm wrapped around his waist.

"Next time remind me not to drink so much." She complained as she rested her head against his chest once they were in the elevator.

"Yeah, I tried to." Seth shot back with an amused laugh. "But you went and got more after that."

"Yeah, well, I felt like I needed that last one."

"Why would you need another one?"

 _Because watching you make out with Emma was sickening and I needed something to take my mind off of it._ "I just felt like I needed another drink to get through that ridiculous game."

"I'll give you that I guess." Seth conceded. "But either way I'm taking your glass away from you next time."

"I might make better choices if you keep your word and do that." She agreed. "And by the way you would have been able to stop me if Emma's tongue wasn't shoved down your throat." Charlie spoke without thinking it through and cringed.

Seth stiffened against her and faltered for words. "Only because I was dared to kiss her."

"You seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit dare or not." Charlie couldn't keep herself from the jealous words spilling out.

"Nah." Seth shook his head. "Trust me, it was honestly just awkward."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Charlie closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out of her nose. "I wish I didn't have to go back to my room right now. Mona is going to kill me."

"Why? Did Mona call dibs on Dolph Ziggler?"

Charlie grinned widely at Seth's comment, a laugh escaping her lips. "Wow. Okay. I see how it is."

"You called me out about having to make out with Emma for my dare. It only seems right."

"Fair enough." Charlie agreed. "But no, as far as I know she doesn't have dibs on him. She just hates when I come in really late. And she especially hates it when we all go drinking and then I come home late."

"Wow. She sounds like a ton of fun."

"She's just very serious and strict. I guess that's why she's on the business side of things and I'm on the creative side."

"Do you want to just crash in my room?" Seth's suggestion genuinely caught her off guard. She hadn't been complaining to try to get some kind of pity offer to take her in. She'd just wanted to vent about her annoying roommate.

That's when the other realization of his offer hit her. "Like share your bed with you?" She could feel her cheeks getting hot at that mental image.

"I can sleep on the pull out couch in my room." Seth answered easily. "It's no big deal. I don't want your roommate killing you because you're a drunk ass mess. I'd probably miss hanging out with you too much."

"Wow, my prince charming."

"Is that a yes?"

"Can we watch a movie if I stay in your room?"

"Seriously? Aren't you tired?" Seth hit a different floor on the elevator panel, clearly accepting her movie idea as a yes that she would crash in his room.

"I'm tired I guess. But not tired enough to fall asleep right away. Come on, it'll be fun."

"yeah, I guess we can." Seth agreed. "I don't see why not. So I'll take that as a yes to staying in my room tonight?"

"Yeah, it sounds fun." Charlie nodded.

"If you snore I'm kicking you out."

"I don't snore. And I don't buy for one second that even if I did you'd kick me out."

"Really? What makes you think I wouldn't. I love sleep, I can't deal with some loud buzz saw snoring all night."

"Oh please." Charlie rolled her eyes at him. "You wouldn't even let me walk back to my room alone. You'd never throw me out in the middle of the night."

"You'd be surprised what I can do if you ruin my sleep." Seth lead her to his room once the elevator opened to his floor. He unlocked the door and Charlie followed him in slowly.

She'd never been alone with Seth in his hotel room before. The realization hit her as she stood awkwardly near the doorway.

"Want some of my clothes to change into? they'll probably be a little bit big, but they'll be more comfortable than jean shorts."

"Yeah, thanks Seth. That would be awesome." She watched as he squatted down and rummaged through a large black suitcase. "These should be small enough to fit you well enough." He handed her a pair of black basketball shorts. "And here, you can wear this if you want a t-shirt." He offered her a black Seth Freakin Rollins shirt.

"Aw, you're gonna let me wear one of your own shirts?" She grinned and accepted the shirt from him.

"Yes?" His nose crinkled in adorable confusion at her excitement. "It's not a big deal or anything. I don't know that it warrants an aw kind of reaction. But I guess I'll take it."

"I don't know, it's just cute." Charlie's cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I'll go change." She ducked into the bathroom and shut the door quickly.

Charlie studied her appearance in the mirror as she set the change of clothes on the counter. Her eyes looked slightly glazed and definitely betrayed how drunk she was. Thankfully her makeup looked good still. She knew it was horrible to sleep in makeup but she was just going to leave it for tonight. She didn't have much on anyways.

She slid out of her zip up hoodie and took in the already darkening bruise on her neck from where Dolph had left a hickey. Seth studying her neck flashed back into her mind and she realized why he'd been staring now. She ran her finger over it and cringed at the memory.

She shouldn't have let him leave a hickey. She hated them. They looked trashy when they were in plain view like that. Not only that, she wasn't exactly proud of making out with him in the bathroom and the hickey would be an unwelcome reminder of it every time she had to see it.

Charlie sighed and stripped off her shorts and tank top. She was surprised by how well the shorts fit her. They were big, but she wasn't as worried about them falling down as she had been.

She wasn't sure whether to leave her bra on and just be uncomfortable sleeping in a bra for the night or to take it off and just wear the t-shirt he'd lent her. It'd be far more comfortable without her bra on, but she felt kind of awkward knowing she wouldn't have one on while she was sleeping in his room.

"Fuck it." She grumbled under her breath, unclasping her bra and setting it with her shorts and tank top on the sink counter. She pulled on his shirt and was glad it was comfortably loose and hid that she didn't have a bra on pretty well. She tucked her bra under her tank top and left her clothes on the countertop.

When she came back out Seth looked her over from where he was sitting on his hotel bed and smiled. "I like you in a Seth Rollins shirt." he laughed, his eyes lingering on her a moment longer than normal.

"Thanks." She felt a blush creep to her cheeks. "It's a pretty great shirt."

"Definitely better than a Dolph Ziggler shirt." Seth shot back. He winked at her and she couldn't help laughing at him.

"Oh shut up." She sighed and joined him on the bed, sitting next to him and crossing her legs indian style. "Thanks again for letting me crash in your room."

"Any time." Seth smiled at her warmly. "So what are we going to watch?" He leaned back against the pillows and headboard and handed her the remote.

"I don't want to pick. You pick." She tossed the remote back to him and giggled as he just barely caught it. "You're the guest so you should pick." He countered.

"No way." She protested "I'm the guest so you should be nice and pick something."

"Okay, fine. But you pick a genre." Seth gave in and opened up Netflix. "Horror. Remember we were going to have a horror movie night?"

"How could I forget?" Seth smiled. "Horror it is." He scrolled through the horror movies list. She smiled as he periodically kept glancing over at her to gauge her reaction to different movies.

"Are you thinking scary horror or goofy horror?"

"Surprise me." She shrugged, forcing herself to keep a neutral expression. "You know you're a total pain in the ass right?" He raised an eyebrow as he took her in.

"You're the one who chooses to keep hanging out with me." She shot back.

"That's true. Something is clearly wrong with me."

"Pick something scary." She felt her heart beat faster as he smiled widely at her choice. "Scary it is." he nodded. He finally settled on a movie about a group of people going to a bunch of haunted houses and searching for the scariest one they could find.

"I'll get the lights." Seth climbed off the bed and turned the lights off. When he climbed back into bed he got under the covers and leaned comfortably back against the many pillows. "Are you going to get comfortable?"

When she glanced back at him he was watching her with an amused expression. "I _am_ comfortable." She lied.

"You're sitting indian style as far from me as you can get. I don't bite I promise. You can get comfortable."

"Maybe I want you to bite." She blushed as the stupid joke left her lips and wished the bed would just swallow her whole. She needed to stop making dumb jokes while she was drunk.

"Well, you'd have to come closer for that and ask nicely." Seth laughed loudly and set her slightly more at ease. "Seriously, get comfortable and watch this movie with me like you wanted."

Charlie sighed but gave in. She crawled under the covers and leaned back so she was next to him and comfortably propped up from all of the pillows stacked against his headboard by the maids.

"You have a much nicer room than me." Charlie admitted. "I swear you have more pillows on your one bed than Mona and I had in our whole room."

Seth laughed from beside her. "Yeah, well that's the perk of being WWE Champion I guess." "You should let me try the belt on tomorrow." "No chance."

"What? Why not?" Charlie turned to face him, ignoring the movie. "You can ask Dolph to try on a championship belt if he ever wins another one."

"Are you ever going to stop with that?" Charlie groaned in annoyance.

"If you ask nicely maybe."

"Please stop bringing up Dolph Ziggler. I admit I should have chosen you for stupid seven minutes in heaven."

"Alright. I'll probably stop bringing it up." Seth agreed with a wide smirk. "But I can't promise it won't come out if a good opportunity to tease you arrises."

"You're so irritating." Charlie laughed. "I'll just have to keep messing with you about how you clearly loved making out with Emma then."

"I didn't love it." Seth protested. "I would have chosen Dean truth be told."

"Oh, bullshit." Charlie laughed loudly. "I'm serious. I could have easily made out with Dean because at least it would have been known that it was just a dare and just a goofy situation."

"Oh yeah, Emma definitely wanted you."

"I know, it's really awkward too. Because I'm just not into her like that." Seth sighed. "She's cool and all. I just don't have feelings for her like that."

"Yeah well you were the one tightening your grip on her hips and getting all into it right back."

"Wow, clearly someone was watching pretty closely." Seth raised an eyebrow as he took her in. She could see the corner of his lip turning up in amusement and tried to fight off a blush.

"I really wasn't actually. I just happened to notice that. I was doing my best to avoid watching."

"Why? You jealous?" She knew he was teasing but the true answer was yes. She had been sickeningly jealous and she knew she really needed to talk about it to Sasha the next chance they got.

"You wish Rollins." She shot back. She turned her attention back to the movie, hoping he'd drop the conversation before she gave herself away.

Charlie shifted, trying to get more comfortable. "Come here." Seth motioned for her to come closer to him. "You can lean against me and get more comfortable. It's really not a problem."

She knew it would almost certainly be more comfortable leaning against him. They were always cuddling up to one another and she was always comfortable when she was using him as a pillow. But it was a little more nerve wrecking getting really cuddled into him while they were in his bed.

She gave in and moved closer to him, letting him put an arm around her as she leaned against him, her head resting comfortably against his chest. The movie was good but she was starting to feel her eyes get heavy as it continued.

"Can we go to some haunted houses when they start opening up in a few weeks?" She asked through a large yawn.

"Hell yeah. I'll go to as many as you want." Seth agreed. "We could go to one in each town we travel through. It would probably be a lot of fun dragging everyone to haunted houses too. I know for a fact Tyler would hate them."

"We should definitely do that. I want to go to haunted houses with you." Charlie nodded, her eyes drifting shut as she spoke. She snuggled against him more and smiled as his arm tightened around her and held her close to him.

"Do you want me to switch off the movie and let you sleep?" Seth asked her. "I can go lay on the couch now if you're falling asleep."

"You don't have to sleep on the couch." Charlie replied, forcing her eyes open. "I'm sure it'll be fine sharing the bed. You have a giant bed."

"I don't mind sleeping on the couch. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Seth argued "You seemed nervous about that earlier."

"I'm fine" She replied, her voice thick with sleepiness. "Just stay here with me."

"Okay, I can do that." Seth agreed. "I'm going to move though so we're actually laying down if we're going to go to sleep. Because I'll never be able to sleep sitting up like this."

Charlie nodded and shifted away from him, sliding down so her head was on the pillows on her side of the bed. She turned onto her side so she could face Seth and meet his eyes. "Sorry I'm falling asleep during our first movie night."

"You don't have to be sorry. I know you were tired. That's why I was surprised you wanted to watch a movie at all."

"Can we have a better movie night soon like we talked about? One where I'm not drunk as fuck like an idiot and fall asleep during the movie."

"We can have a movie night whenever you want to." Seth smiled at her. She felt her heart flutter a bit as she took in his smile. She loved the way his eyes lit up as he smiled. It was like every time he genuinely smiled his whole face lit up adorably.

"Just us?"

"We can have it be just us or we can invite other people to hangout and watch a movie too. Either way."

"I just want to watch movies with you. So just us." Charlie admitted. The alcohol and sleepiness was mixing together and she knew she should probably stop talking before she said something stupid.

"That sounds great to me." Seth agreed. "How about this weekend? Maybe Saturday night after we get to the hotel after the pay-per-view."

"Saturday I'm supposed to go out with Sasha and whoever else decides to come to make up for ditching everyone to hangout with you at the beach."

"Ditch them for me again." Seth joked with a laugh.

"I can't. You can come out with us though. You can be my dance partner."

"Yeah, I'll go. But I'm not promising you that I'll be dancing."

"You _have_ to dance. Don't be lame."

"Nope. No promises." Seth shook his head. "I'm not adancer. Never have been, never will be."

"Okay, well, I'm going to get you to dance with me." Charlie replied confidently. "We can maybe have a movie night after. I just won't get drunk and won't get sleepy."

"That sounds good to me." Seth agreed. "But for now I think you need to get some sleep. You look exhausted."

"I am exhausted." She admitted, her eyes fighting to close again. "Thanks again for letting me sleep in your room."

"Like I said, it's not a big deal. Stop thanking me." She could hear the laughter in his voice and it made her smile even as she drifted to sleep. "Get some sleep Charlie."

"Goodnight Seth." She mumbled back as she sank comfortably to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Charlie greeted Sasha with a half hearted hello as she was let into her best friend's hotel room. "I'm in need of some very serious girl talk." Charlie declared as she collapsed onto her stomach on Sasha's bed dramatically, her feet hanging off the edge of the bed.

"Okay" Sasha laughed and Charlie felt the bed sink down as Sasha sat beside her. "Lucky for you I happen to be a pro when it comes to girl talk. So hit me. What's going on?"

"First you need to promise not to freak out." Charlie rolled onto her back and released a deep sigh.

"Why would I freak out? What are you about to talk to me about?" Sasha sounded more curious after Charlie's disclaimer. "Now I'm kind of worried."

"You don't need to be worried." Charlie sat up and crossed her legs underneath her indian style. "Last night I slept over in Seth's room instead of going back to my room."

"What?!" Sasha's mouth fell open in genuine surprise. "Excuse me... you did what?"

Charlie sighed and buried her face in her hands. "I told you not to freak out. Nothing happened."

"How am I supposed to not freak out when you tell me you slept in Seth's room last night? How did that even happen?"

"After I left he followed me out so he could walk me back to my room. He didn't want me wandering to my room by myself."

"Yeah, he got up really fast after you left. We were all kind of curious about that." Sasha admitted, "He just abruptly said he was gonna leave also. Tyler was convinced you two were sneaking out together and had somehow planned it. He'd freak out if he found out he was right."

"He _isn't_ right." Charlie replied quickly. "In fact, it's the opposite because we got into an argument about it."

"So how did you end up sleeping in his room?"

"Well, we made up and I was bitching about how Mona hates when I come in late after drinking or hanging out with you guys. And he offered to let me crash in his room so I wouldn't have to wake her up and have her be pissy with me."

"Did you guys share a bed?" Sasha's eyes narrowed as she studied Charlie's reaction. She knew it was pointless to lie to Sasha. She was always able to tell when Charlie wasn't being honest.

"Oh my god. You _did_ didn't you?" Sasha's eyes widened.

"Yeah." Charlie bit her lip. "We were watching a movie and sort of cuddling and I was getting really tired so we just went to sleep and I told him he didn't have to sleep on the couch and be uncomfortable like he'd offered to."

"I'm freaking out right now."

"Don't freak out. Nothing happened."

"Nothing happened? You slept over in his room and shared a damn bed. That's not nothing."

"It's not like we hooked up. We just slept." Charlie defended herself. "Nothing happened."

"You and I have different opinions on what nothing is. Like yeah, obviously _more_ could have happened. But that's not nothing." Sasha ran a hand through her hair as she processed the information Charlie had just laid on her. "How was it?"

"It was fine. We slept." Charlie replied. "It was a little awkward when I woke up because at some point I'd clearly moved over onto his side and he had his arm around me. But I just quickly rolled over to my side and thankfully he didn't wake up to notice."

"So you woke up and he was spooning you? So you two were cuddling?" Sasha's lips curved into a wide grin.

"I guess?"

"Wow. This is so much to process. When you said you needed girl talk this is not something I would have expected." Sasha shook her head in awe. "Especially because when you left last night you seemed really down. I just assumed you went to your room and slept it off."

"I _was_ feeling really down. Because I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." Sasha shot her a warning look. "You were jealous as fuck. But you're not an idiot."

"I _was_ jealous as fuck." Charlie buried her head in her hands with an exasperated sigh. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you" Sasha replied quickly. "You clearly like Seth despite all of your claims to the contrary. It makes sense that you wouldn't want to watch him suck face with Emma."

"I really didn't think I had a crush on him though. I just want to be friends with him."

"Girl..." Sasha sighed, "If you really didn't think you had a crush on him you're the most in denial person I've ever met."

"I know you guys have all been insisting something is going on but I genuinely only wanted to be friends with him. I _still_ only want to be friends with him to be honest."

"You're kidding right?" Sasha's face fell. "So you at least admit you have feelings for him?"

"Yes, unfortunately." Charlie groaned.

"So why wouldn't you want to see if something could happen with him? Because I feel like he probably likes you too."

"I don't think he does. He's made it seem pretty clear he only sees me as a friend. And last night we were talking about Emma and he was saying how awkward it was kissing her because she's only a friend and he didn't want to lead her on."

"What does that have to do with you?"

"I don't want to make things awkward and ruin our friendship because I'm stupid and caught feelings for him."

"Charlie, for the love of god." Sasha pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a heavy sigh. "You two are the most obliviously stupid people I've ever met. It's clear to everyone you both like each other. Except apparently to both of you."

"I'm telling you he doesn't have feelings for me. Not romantic feelings at least. It's just how we are. We flirt and act stupid. It doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, I'm sure he goes out of his way to always be near you and always have his arm around you because he sees you as a platonic friend." Sasha's sarcasm wasn't lost on Charlie.

"Even if he does have feelings for me I don't want anything to happen with him." Charlie admitted with a frown. She felt her heart sink as she made the confession. Even to her that statement sounded stupid.

"Why?" Sasha's eyes met hers, "Why wouldn't you want something to happen if you both _did_ like each other? That doesn't make sense."

"Look I don't want to get into the whole thing. But I haven't had the best past relationships. My last ex was the worst of them though. He cheated on me constantly and belittled me all the time. It just really fucked me up." Charlie hesitated, taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure I want to get into any kind of relationship right now. I just now feel like I'm getting back on my feet and regaining that confidence. So I don't know... the idea of anything scares me."

"Jesus... I'm sorry. I can't imagine dealing with something like that." Sasha reached out and took Charlie's hand, squeezing it supportively. "But I _can_ promise you that I don't think Seth would ever be like that to you... or anyone else for that matter."

"I don't think he would be." Charlie nodded, "I think Seth is a great person. It's just _me_. I freak out and push people away and I don't want to do that to him. Plus, he just seems really flirtatious with girls in every city we go to. And I don't want to risk getting hurt again."

"I don't blame you." Sasha leaned forward and hugged her tightly. "Can I say something without you getting mad at me?"

"Yeah, of course." Charlie nodded. "Shoot."

"I get that a situation like that would mess you up. I just don't want you to pass up on something that could make you happy because of fear." Sasha paused, gauging her reaction. "I see how happy you get whenever you're with him. The reason we all think you two like each other is because we all see how much you both light up when you're around each other. I just think maybe you should consider giving it a chance if it presents itself. I'm not saying you have to run over and make some big confession. But try to keep an open mind to it."

"It's just so much easier not having feelings for anyone. I hate this." Charlie sighed. "It was awful watching him kiss Emma yesterday. It felt like someone had punched me in the gut. And it was even worse because I genuinely didn't want to admit I had feelings for him. And I was forced to face that yesterday. It just sucks."

"I know girl." Sasha nodded, "I don't blame you for not wanting to admit it. Having feelings for people is scary. I'm sure it's worse after dealing with shit you've dealt with. But if you like him you shouldn't let that stop you from being happy either."

"We'll see" Charlie gave in with a sigh. "I'm telling you though that he doesn't like me. I'm pretty sure he treats me like every other girl he's friends with."

"Yeah right" Sasha laughed loudly. "That is _not_ how he treats every girl he's friends with. That boy looks at you with the definition of heart eyes. You're just blind apparently."

"Stop it" Charlie felt herself blush, and shook her head at Sasha. "You just see what you want to."

"Should we get Tyler in here to tell you the exact same thing that I am?"

"No. Please don't. I don't want him knowing I stayed in Seth's room last night yet. He'd give me _way_ too much shit for it. I need time to process everything without my biggest cheerleader losing his mind."

"He would definitely lose his mind. He wants you two together so badly."

"I know" Charlie laughed, a small smile playing at her lips. "He's too much sometimes. He's always making super obvious comments around Seth. It'll only get worse if he finds out I slept over in his room."

"Imagine if he knew you two got all cuddly while you slept." Sasha replied with a wicked smile. "He'd probably combust."

"He might." Charlie ran a hand through her hair and collapsed onto her back on Sasha's bed. "I still don't know how I feel about everything. I just need some time to process it all you know?"

"If you say so" Sasha's voice gave away her disappointment. "I don't see what you need to process. It sounds pretty obvious to me. And it sounds like you had a great time sleeping over with your boy."

"He's not my boy." Charlie laughed. "But it _was_ great." Charlie admitted. A nervous laugh escaped her as she pictured being cuddled up to Seth while they watched the movie. "I just don't know what to think right now. And I'm not about to make some rash decision because you two end up convincing me to do something crazy."

"Fair enough." Sasha put her hands up in defeat. "But if we're ending the whole Seth situation on you processing it can I at least ask you about your little bathroom hookup with Dolph Ziggler?"

"No." Charlie shot her down instantly. "Please don't." Her stomach twisted at the memory of making out with Dolph in the bathroom.

"Come on" Sasha pleaded with her. "You said it was just okay. That's not at all what I've heard about him before. You have to spill the details."

"I feel stupid for even doing anything." Charlie sighed. "I should have just picked Seth."

"I can't argue that. Maybe then you would have ended up doing more than cuddling in his room."

"Stop it." Charlie sat up and playfully shoved her friend. "No chance. Nothing would have happened if I had chosen him. That's the point."

"So _did_ something happen with Dolph then?"

"You aren't going to drop this are you?"

"No chance."

Charlie rolled her eyes but gave in. "Fine. We made out. Nothing more considering it was only seven minutes."

"He left that hickey I'm assuming? Because if you left out that happening with Seth I'm going to strangle you."

Charlie reached up and ran a finger over where she knew there was a small dark red and purple hickey on her neck. "Yeah, Dolph did that unfortunately. It's gross."

"He definitely did that to rile up Seth."

"Why would he have done it to rile up Seth? That makes no sense. We don't even hangout with Dolph that often for him to know everyone thinks Seth and I have a thing."

"Trust me. Anyone with eyes could know."

"Oh bite me."

"Seriously Charlie. Seth was clearly upset you chose him and Dolph was pulling his whole macho playboy act way harder once he noticed. He gave you that hickey knowing Seth would see it and be pissed."

"If you say so." Charlie replied sarcastically. "I think he just did it in the heat of the moment."

"The heat of the moment?" Sasha raised her eyebrows at Charlie. "How heated _did_ the moment get?"

"Not _that_ heated. He was a good kisser but it was just... eh" Charlie shrugged, "I just wasn't that invested."

"But it got heated enough that he left a hickey on your neck."

"He seemed really into it. I just wasn't." Charlie bit her lip. "He was getting a little excited if you know what I mean. I had my legs kind of wrapped around him so I could tell."

"Oh my god." Sasha's smile grew even wider. "Did he feel big? I've heard so many stories about him. I just need to know."

"I don't know. I didn't like, _really_ feel it." Charlie felt her face flushing scarlet at the idea. "I could just tell he was getting hard."

"And you were just uninterested?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Charlie nodded. "I mostly did it out of jealousy and because I was mad at Seth."

"Because you wanted Seth to get jealous."

"I guess... yeah." Charlie's stomach twisted in a guilty knot. "I'm not proud of that. But I was really drunk and being a total idiot."

"You're not an idiot." Sasha replied quickly. "And you're not the first person to ever do something like that so stop beating yourself up."

"I just feel bad. I basically used Dolph because I was drunk and mad at Seth for making out with Emma."

"I'm sure Dolph is okay with it" Sasha giggled. "Trust me. I know him. He's more than happy to lend a helping hand when it comes to making people jealous. His slogan of 'stealing the show and your girlfriend' was coined for a reason."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"I just can't believe you still are telling me it was mediocre. From what I hear he's an amazing kisser."

"He was a great kisser. I just wasn't into it. I was mostly just going through the motions."

"Well if it's any consolation Seth _was_ jealous I think. Which is just more evidence towards saying he does have a crush on you."

"According to you. You're not exactly an unbiased source though."

"He was trying so hard to focus on talking to Dean and Renee. But he kept glancing over at the bathroom door and getting all mopey."

"Don't tell me that. I feel guilty enough."

"What?" Sasha's expression betrayed her confusion. "Why would you feel guilty?"

"Because he's like one of my best friends here. I feel bad that I hurt his feelings and chose Dolph over him. It was a dumb move."

"You didn't hurt his feelings." Sasha rolled her eyes. "He just wanted to be the one in there making out with you."

Charlie felt her face get hot as she imagined Seth being in Dolph's place. "Look at how pink you're getting." Sasha smiled broadly. "God... you've got it bad."

"I do not." Charlie refused to admit her friend was right. She reached over and grabbed a pillow, wrapping her arms around it and burying her face into it. "I'm just gonna hide behind this pillow until you drop this conversation."

"Fine. I'll drop it." Sasha gave in. "Just know this. I'm here for you if you need to vent about your feelings. But also I'm fully rooting for you to make a move on Seth. And when you do I want details."

"Don't hold your breath."

"That you'll make a move on him? Or that you'll give me details after?"

"Both." Charlie shot back. Sasha made an elaborate display of sucking in a large breath and plugging her nose as she held her breath. Charlie took the pillow she was still clutching to her chest and hit Sasha hard with it, sending both girls into a fit of loud laughter as Sasha released the breath. "You know I wouldn't be able to help but give you details if something did ever happen."

"I do. And I'm counting on that." Sasha smiled. "I'm going to find a way to know if he likes you or not. And if I find out for sure he does you need to jump on that. Figuratively and literally."

"I already told you I don't know if I even want to." Charlie shot Sasha a stern look. "Please don't do anything. Just let me handle it. Or not handle it if that's what I decide."

"Fine" Sasha let out a sigh of defeat. "If you want to fight against your feelings I can't stop you."

"Thank you." Charlie threw her arms around her friend and hugged her tightly.

"You're not welcome." Sasha scowled and stuck her tongue out at Charlie. "But I do love you. Even if you are determined to live your life in denial."

"I love you too Sasha." Charlie laughed. "Now let's go to the gym like we planned on doing. Because I need to exercise out some of my frustration."

"I'm sure Seth could exercise most of your frustration out." Sasha shot back. She quickly scrambled off the bed before Charlie could grab her and ducked the pillow Charlie chucked at her. "I'm just saying the truth. No need to get aggressive."

"God, you're the worst. And I thought Tyler was bad."

"We're both bad. You made your choices of friends here. Now you get to deal with the bad sexual innuendos and jokes that come along with those choices."

"Wow, lucky me."


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey" Charlie leaned in closer to Tyler so he could hear her over the loud music of the club. "I'm gonna go get Seth and make him come over by us."

Tyler's lips curved into a small smile and he nodded in response to her statement m. "Yeah, good idea. Go get your man. Tell him to stop being so fucking lame."

"He's not my man." She rolled her eyes at Tyler as he made it clear he didn't believe that statement at all. "I'll be back." She pulled away from Tyler and started to fight her way through the thick crowd of people packing the main floor of the club.

She felt like the human equivalent of a pinball. bumping her way back and forth through the sea of dancing sweaty bodies until she finally made it through the thick part of the crowd to the outskirts.

It was like a breath of fresh air when she finally made it to Seth, who was surprisingly still seated at the table they'd been at earlier. She was genuinely surprised to see he was still alone at the table, silently messing around on his phone.

She’d assumed some girl would have _at least_ tried to take advantage of him sitting by himself over there and would have attempted to talk to him. "What are you doing?" Charlie sat in the booth across from him, startling Seth with her question.

He grinned sheepishly as he looked up and met her eyes. He held up his phone to show her he'd been playing candy crush and shrugged. "Just fucking around on my phone."

"God Seth, you are out of control." Charlie couldn't help the giggle at his expense. "You're just way too wild."

"I know, I know." Seth sighed and shook his head defeatedly. "I'm a party animal. What can I say?"

"Well I think it's time you say goodbye to your candy friends and come hangout with your real friends. Come dance with me."

"No way." Seth shook his head, "I don't dance. I already told you that."

"Jesus Seth." Charlie sighed and met his eyes. "It’s not like I'm asking you to perform a choreographed broadway dance number."

"You may as well be. I don't do any kind of dancing."

"Okay, well you're going to today." Charlie refused to take no as an answer from him. She knew he was a stubborn pain in the ass when he wanted to be. But she also knew she could be just as stubborn right back. And she was not about to back down from this that easily.

Seth laughed loudly, his brown eyes glittering with amusement at her expense. "Look Charlie, you know I adore you-"

"Don't even" Charlie cut him off with a laugh of her own. "-But as much as I adore you there's just some things I won't do. Even for you." He continues despite her laughs and protests.

"Yeah?" Charlie raised her eyebrows at him. Seth shrugged, his lips pursed in a pseudo apologetic smile. "Yeah, I'm sorry."

"I hope you know I don't adore _you_ right now." Charlie shot back.

"I can live with that." Seth ignored the way she was pouting out her lower lip and giving him puppy dog eyes. "You won't stay annoyed with me forever."

"Try me." Charlie crossed her arms over her chest and fixed him with her best cold glare. "Fine, have fun being super lame all by yourself." Charlie slid out of the booth, ignoring the half assed apology he gave her again.

She was about to tell him to stop apologizing and have fun with his stupid candy crush game when an attractive man stopped beside her. "Hi" He greeted her with a large smile. "You're absolutely beautiful. I was hoping you'd maybe want to dance." He spoke loudly as he gestured to the dance floor.

Charlie bit her lip as she chewed over the most polite way to turn down his offer. He was cute enough, but he wasn't really her type. He looked far too much like the clean cut frat boy type for her. Plus, as much as she wanted to dance, she was mostly looking to dance with Seth, not with some random guy.

"She's not interested." It was his turn to startle her now when he came up behind her. "Sorry man."

Charlie felt nervous goosebumps rise on her skin where Seth draped an arm around her shoulders. The two men locked eyes for a moment before the random guy quickly backed down.

"Sorry. I didn't realize she was with somebody." The man offered a weak apology before his eyes drifted over Charlie again.

"Yeah, she is though." Seth replied. She was shocked he didn't puff his chest out to really sell his point. She was very much struggling not to roll her eyes at the sudden power display going on as Seth told him to have a good rest of his night and dismissed the other man.

"Wow." Charlie picked Seth's arm up and removed it from her shoulders. "What exactly was that?" She turned around and met Seth's eyes.

"Sorry? Did you want to go with him?" Seth's brows furrowed in genuine confusion.

"No, not at all. But that's not the point." Charlie sighed, "You got all weird and protective and shit."

"I just didn't think you'd want to bothered by him so I figured I'd have your back." Seth seemed to search her face as his confusion grew. "Are you seriously mad right now?"

"No, not at all." Charlie admitted. "It was just slightly ridiculous. I'd almost think you seemed jealous."

"Jealous?" Seth laughed, but she noticed he shifted nervously at the thought. "Not at all." Seth placed a hand behind his neck and smiled nervously.

"Okay, well, I think since you scared away someone who was willing to dance with me that means you have to now." Charlie smiled and reached over, lacing her fingers with his. "Come on." She playfully started to walk backwards, pulling him with her.

"Charlie no, please don't make me dance." Seth protested, easily pulling her back to him.

"Seriously, just come on already. No one is going to judge you." She pulled him after her again and was relieved when he finally gave in and followed her into the crowd. She found their friends towards the middle of the crowd again and Sasha, Tyler, and Xavier cheered when they saw him following behind her.

"Damn Seth, it's about time." Sasha shouted excitedlyover the loud music.

"Trust me, it wasn't easy." Charlie yelled back to her.

"Oh, loosen up already. It's not that horrible." Tyler added in with a shake of his head at Seth. "Don't be so uptight."

"I don't dance." Seth complained with a frown. At this rate that was going to turn into his new life’s motto by the end of the night.

"It's not that hard" Sasha smiled, a wicked gleam in her eyes that made even Charlie concerned. Charlie watched as Sasha danced over to them, sliding easily behind her and placing her hands on Charlie's hips. "You just move to the music like this." Both girls swayed their hips to the music and laughed as Seth flushed slightly.

Sasha let go of Charlie and playfully pushed her into Seth. "Try to have some fun. Loosen up you nerd."

Charlie felt herself blush as she smiled up at Seth. "Come on" she turned around and placed his hands on her hips. When he didn't immediately pull away she pressed her back against him and moved her hips to the music.

She felt Seth hesitate for a moment before he finally gave in and danced with her. Charlie met Tyler's eyes who smiled widely and gave her a subtle thumbs up of approval.

"You don't think this is weird?" Seth's voice was loud against her ear as he leaned down to ask her the question. Charlie spun around to face him and was surprised when Seth left his hands on her hips. "I don't think it's weird no" She replied, still moving her hips to the music. "It's just dancing with one of my best friends. Why? Do you think it's weird?"

Seth hesitated to speak, opening his mouth then closing it again and sighing. "I don't know... maybe?"

"If you're uncomfortable we don't have to dance." Charlie felt a pang of disappointment in her stomach. She moved to take a step back but Seth slid one of his arms behind her to hold her to him. "I'm not uncomfortable." He replied quickly. "It's just... different having you be this close to me like this I guess."

"Good different? Or bad different?"

"I don't know. Just different." Seth responded. "Not bad though." He assured her when he took in her expression. Charlie felt her heart hammering in her chest and smiled up at him again. "It can't be _that_ different. You're always hugging me or all over me. Just ask Tyler."

Seth leaned his head back in loud laughter. "Oh god, I know. He's always giving me shit."

"Seriously? You too?" She was genuinely surprised Tyler didn't only harass her about her friendship with Seth.

"Oh yeah, he loves giving me shit." Seth nodded. "I think it's because he sees we're getting close and he's jealous and worried I'll take his number one spot as your best friend."

"Yeah, that's definitely it." Charlie giggled and leaned forward, her forehead resting on his chest a moment as she laughed. Seth's grip tightened around her in response to her closeness before she turned herself back around and guided his hands back to her hips.

She pressed her back against him and was happy when he finally gave in and danced with her, moving his hips with hers to the pulsing dance music.

She felt her heart race as his grip tightened on her hips in response to her arching her back slightly so her butt was pressed more firmly against him. She was glad he couldn't see the blush form on her cheeks in response to his reaction.

After a while of dancing she was almost relieved when Sasha danced her way back over to them and took Charlie's hand, pulling her away from Seth. She could use a breather from dancing. As much as she hated to admit it, she _was_ getting a bit too flustered from dancing with him. "Come get a drink with me." Sasha yelled next to her ear, more of a statement than a request.

"Yeah, sounds good." Charlie agreed. "I'll be back. Want anything to drink?" She leaned closer to Seth again. "Sure, surprise me." He replied. "Wait" he grabbed her hand and hesitated. "No tequila though."

Charlie and Sasha both laughed and Charlie nodded before Sasha pulled her away towards the bar. Sasha linked her arm with Charlie's as they pushed their way to the bar.

"So how was that?" Sasha asked with a knowing smirk once they'd ordered their next round of drinks.

"It was nice." Charlie laughed. She knew at this point there was no point in denying anything to Sasha. She already knew all about Charlie's unwanted feelings now, so why dance around the subject. "It was just dancing."

"Yeah, more like grinding"

"What can I say? That's the only dancing I know how to do." Charlie replied with a small smile. "I'm not complaining about it."

"I'm sure you're not." Sasha agreed with a wink. "I saw you working those hips."

"He seemed really nervous at first."

"I'm sure he was with you pressing yourself up against him like that. He was probably sweating."

"Sasha" Charlie pushed her friend playfully. "Stop it."

"I'm serious. Have you thought any more about making a move on him?"

"No. I don't know." Charlie sighed. "I just don't know that I really want to still. But speaking of that guess who came up to me in catering today when I was waiting for you guys to head back to the hotel together?"

"Who?" Sasha leaned on the bar, meeting Charlie's gaze as she waited for a response.

"Dolph. He found me because he wanted to ask me on a date."

"No fucking way."

"Yes way." Charlie replied, "Isn't that weird as hell?"

"I mean, I guess your mediocre make out session was better for him than for you."

"Yeah, I guess so." Charlie sighed as she remembered the encounter. "He was really sweet about it too."

"Well what did you say?"

"I said maybe." Charlie admitted, biting her bottom lip as she took in Sasha's expression. "I told him I had to think about it."

"What? Why on earth would you tell him that? You're not even interested in him at all."

"It seemed more nice. Plus I really am considering it."

"Why would you consider it? You said you felt nothing when you were kissing him. Plus you said you weren't sure you wanted to date anyone which is why you're being crazy and ignoring the clear chemistry you have with Rollins. You know, your actual crush, Seth Rollins?"

"Sasha..." Charlie started to protest.

"No, like really though Charlie. What are you doing?"

"Look, I don't want to risk ruining what Seth and I have. I'm not friends with Dolph, so anything that comes of it would automatically be a safer bet because I wouldn't lose a friend if it just doesn't work out."

"Charlie" She could tell Sasha didn't approve of that logic at all. "Don't do that."

"You don't think it makes sense? Not even a little bit?"

"No. Not at all." Sasha replied honestly. "And besides that if you hook up with Dolph any chance you have with Seth is gone. I don’t know if he hates Dolph, but I don't think he'd pursue you after you dated anyone we work with. Just out of respect."

"But I don't know that I even _want_ to pursue Seth."

"Look at me." Sasha placed a hand on either side of Charlie's face and forced her to look her in the eyes. "I know you're scared. But one way or another what you have going on with Seth is going to change."

"Why though?" In her gut she knew Sasha was right. Nothing was ever able to stay the same forever. She knew that, it was just an eternal fact she always wanted to ignore.

"Because either you're going to both give in and it'll morph into more. Or because one of you is going to start dating someone else. And when you do no one you date is ever going to let you two have the type of relationship you do now. You guys are way too flirty and are always all over each other. There's no way if either of you meets someone they would be cool with that."

Charlie felt a pit form in her stomach as she really absorbed Sasha's words. "I didn't ever think about it that way I guess."

"Would you be okay with having to see him date someone else?"

"I would have to be. I wouldn't want to lose his friendship over me being jealous. I would just have to move on."

"Yeah, easier said than done." Sasha replied softly. "Think about that though as you're weighing your options. But either way I don't think you should go out with Dolph. It's not fair to use him as an experiment to see if you can get over Seth."

"You're right." Charlie admitted. "I'll think about all of that. But I appreciate you being a good friend and telling me what you really think."

"If there's one thing you can count on it's me telling you what's on my mind. Good or bad." The girls paid for their drinks when the bartender finally came back and made their way back over to their friends.

When they got back Charlie was glad to see that Kofi, Big E, and Mikaze had finally made it and joined them. Charlie handed Seth his beer and smiled as E scooped her up into a big hug. "I was starting to think you guys were never going to show up." Charlie smiled at her friend as he set her back on the ground.

"We were playing some video games, but figured we'd swing by for a bit." E smiled back at her warmly. "And what's this shit with you fetching him a drink? It should be the other way around. Make that boy work for you."

Seth laughed and shook his head at their friend’s comment. "Sasha and I needed a break and some girl talk." Charlie explained easily enough.

"Yeah, yeah. Girl talk." E rolled his eyes. "Next time make him go get the drinks. Seriously, make him put in some work."

"Next time. I promise." Charlie giggled as E pulled Charlie closer to him and Tyler "It's time to party now that we're here."

"She was Seth's dance partner." Tyler commented, motioning between the two of them. "They were getting their grind on."

Charlie felt her face get hot and she shot Tyler an annoyed look. "We were not."

"Oh... they were." Tyler laughed, his goofy laugh bringing a smile to Charlie's face despite his teasing her.

"Okay then. I see you Charlie." E looked her over appreciatively. "Get it."

"I was getting nothing." Charlie huffed, her face probably beet red by now.

"Good. Because you can be my dance partner now." E laughed loudly.

"You come hours late and then want to steal Charlie away." Seth complained, lopsided grin on his face. "Not cool E, not cool at all."

"You can join us" E replied easily. "We'll make a Charlie sandwich."

"No" Charlie protested, shaking her head quickly. "No Charlie sandwiches. I'm just going to dance with Tyler. You're both on your own."

Tyler smiled widely and pulled her into his arms, his hands resting on her lower back. "Real cold Charlie" She could hear the laughter in Seth's voice. She spun around, dancing with Tyler, her back pressed against him as Seth pressed a hand over his heart in mock hurt.

"Dance with E." She replied. Big E swung his hips around in his patented dance, causing Tyler and Charlie to both erupt in a fit of giggles. "Come on Seth" E motioned for him to join him, "Do the Big E dance."

Seth laughed but gave in, circling his hips around as he put his hands behind his head. "Stop it" Charlie giggled uncontrollably at him, "You look crazy."

"Yeah, well I got ditched by my dance partner." Seth commented. He crossed his arms over his chest and stopped dancing as he pouted at Charlie and Tyler.

"Oh stop pouting" Tyler laughed, showing no sympathy for Seth's complaining. "You steal her away all the time." "That's true" Charlie backed Tyler up. "I need some time with my best friend."

Seth scowled at both of them as Tyler stuck his tongue out at him. "You two both suck." He stuck up his middle finger at them with a smile and went back to talking with E and Kofi.

"I'm hungry as fuck." Tyler leaned closer to Charlie and complained. "Please tell me you're hungry."

"I am actually." Charlie laughed, "Talk about a comment being out of the blue though."

"Help me convince these guys to leave." Tyler's voice held his amusement as he tried to get Charlie to conspire with him. She grinned up at her friend and nodded. "I don't even like being at clubs. That's the best idea I've heard all night."

"You guys Charlie thinks we should leave and go get food." Tyler yelled loudly to their group of friends. Charlie stepped back, her mouth open wide as she met his eyes. " _Wow_."

"Don't act like I betrayed you." Tyler giggled, his smile lighting up his whole face. "Stop it. Stop looking at me like that." Tyler devolved into further laughter and pulled Charlie in to hug her and make her stop gaping at him in mock hurt.

"I would be really okay with that." Seth was the first one to speak up in defense of the idea. Kofi nodded as he thought about it and Xavier quickly agreed as well.

"But E and Kofi just got here." Sasha protested. "I don't want to leave yet."

"Come on Sasha" Tyler tried to coax her into liking the idea. "Think about it. We could go get tacos. Tacos are always better than being at a club."

"I mean... I guess so." Sasha sighed with resignation as she realized she was outnumbered. "You guys would really all rather leave to go eat."

"Yes" All of them answered almost perfectly in unison.

"I have to go with them" Mikaze laughed as Sasha lightly punched his arm.

"Fine, let's go then. Call some damn ubers." Sasha gave in with a heavy sigh.

Charlie couldn’t help but laugh as Seth was the first one to start leading them to the door to go. She swore he really was like her kindred spirit sometimes.

The cold air felt immediately nicer than the muggy heat of the dance club. Charlie took a deep breath and smiled, enjoying the way the cold air felt in her lungs. The club had been so packed with people it had felt overbearingly humid at some points.

"I know a good place around here" Kofi pulled out his phone and looked up the address once they were outside and able to talk more easily.

"Here, enter it into my phone I'll call the second uber we need" Charlie passed him her phone. She felt a shiver pass through her as the cold air began to feel less inviting and more uncomfortable.

She knew she should have brought a coat, but her and Sasha had both agreed it would be more of a pain to lug a coat around and to have to check it once they got to the club.

But now that she was stuck standing outside in her tiny black dress she was greatly regretting that decision.

"Come here" She glanced up at the sound of Seth's voice and laughed as he put his arms around her, her back flush against his chest. "I don't know if you've ever heard of a coat, but they're this really great invention to keep you warm."

"Funny" Charlie shot back sarcastically. "I don't see you with a coat either Rollins."

"I'm not the one shivering in a tiny dress." 

Tyler glanced over at them and shook his head as he took them in. "So who's riding in Kofi's uber and who's coming with Charlie?” He looked over the group and then pointed to Seth and Charlie. “I'm assuming Seth is going with Charlie since I don't see them untangling from one another any time soon."

"Really Tyler?” Charlie shot him an annoyed glance. "I was cold."

"I'm sure you were. It's just an observation. It's not like I meant anything by it." Tyler played dumb, wide smile lighting up his expression before he winked at her.

"Me, Sasha, Mikaze and Kofi can go in one car" Xavier shrugged, "E, Charlie, Seth and you can go in the other."

"Works for me." Charlie agreed with a nod.

"I call the front seat. I'm not squishing into the back." E spoke up quickly. "You three are in the back together."

"That's fine also." Charlie laughed at her friend. "I think that's fair. I'll sit in the back between these two idiots."

"You're about to be cold again" Seth teasingly threatened her after her comment. He started to loosen his arms around her and she held his arms back down around her. “Please don’t. I really am freezing now."

"Who's fault is that?" Seth laughed at her. She could feel his deep laughter rumbling in his chest and it only made her laugh with him. "It's yours if you make me be extra cold again."

"It's yours for not bringing a damn coat."

Charlie ignored Seth and checked to see when their car would be there as Kofi's pulled up. "See you guys there. Sasha, order us some guacamole, I'll split it with you. I'm starving."

"Definitely. See you when you guys get there." She ducked into the back seat after Mikaze and Kofi and waved to them before following them into the back.

Charlie was relieved to see their car pulling up and hurried into the backseat, buckling into the middle seat between her two best friends.

Big E and the driver managed to strike up a conversation over the music he was playing and Charlie smiled as Seth put an arm around her. "You still down to watch movies and stay over in my room tonight?"

Charlie felt her heart beat harder in her chest as she felt Tyler stiffen a bit next to her at the question. "Uh, yeah, for sure." She answered with a forced smile. She couldn't help but wish he would have waited to ask her when they weren't crammed into a car with their two friends.

She hadn't had a chance to spill everything that had been going on with them to Tyler yet like she had to Sasha. He’d been really busy because they were working really hard on the storyline to bring him and Fandango together as a tag team. So she hadn’t been able to spend as much time with him as she normally would.

But now she knew she was in for a whole long interrogation next time her and Tyler hung out.

"You guys are having a movie night once we get back to the hotel?" Tyler asked, his eyes betraying his amusement as he read Charlie’s expression. "That's cute."

"Yeah, you know how my roommate gets about me coming in late. It's easier to just crash in Seth's room and watch some bad horror movies when we all go out late."

"That totally makes sense." Tyler replied. He was keeping a perfectly straight face but she knew him well enough to read that he was thrilled to have this news. There was no way he wasn't going to torment her with this new information.

"That's cool that Seth doesn't mind letting you stay in his room. I'd never let you, you'd probably snore and keep me up all night."

Charlie cringed. She knew exactly what Tyler was trying to do.He was trying to fish and see if they’d already done this arrangement before or if this was the first time.

Unfortunately for her, Seth clearly wasn't as hip to Tyler's detective skills. "She didn't snore at all last time she stayed in my room."

At this point she was just hoping her face wasn't beet red. She knew better than to hope Tyler would stop teasing her.

"Oh, well that's good. I could have sworn she snored one of the times she fell asleep while we were driving to the next town on tour."

"Look at that, we're here." Charlie sat forward and smiled. She didn't think she'd ever been so relieved to get out of a car in her entire life. As soon as Seth stepped out of the car she thanked the driver and hurried out.

She hurried inside, leaving all three of the boys outside as Seth waited for Tyler and E.

"You okay?" Seth eyed her curiously when he stepped into line behind her to order. She jumped as his hand rested on her lower back which only made him look more concerned.

"I'm fine, I'm just really hungry." She knew he didn't fully believe her by the way he studied her. His dark brown eyes searched her expression and she smiled up at him. "Seth, I'm fine."

"Okay, you just seemed weird after I asked if you still wanted to have a movie night tonight. You're sure you want to? I don't want you to feel like you have to."

"Seth" Charlie sighed. "Stop it. I want to hangout tonight and have a movie night still. Everything is fine."

"Alright. I just wanted to make sure."

"Stop worrying, I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too." Seth admitted with a small smile. Charlie couldn't keep a smile from her own lips as her chest tightened nervously in response to his answer.

She was grateful when it was her turn to order and she was able to step away from him and get some more space between them.

She wasn't sure if it was the leftover vibes from dancing with him but his hand had felt heavy on her lower back and she was having a hard time keeping her mind from wandering to how soft his lips might be. And to all the other places she wouldn’t mind his hand to be.

She didn't wait for him to order, she just wanted to head over to where their friends were already sitting down. "Oh thank god, they already gave you the guacamole." She sat down next to Sasha and dug into it. "Damn, that's really good too."

"I told you, this place is great." Kofi smiled proudly. "Wait until you try the actual tacos."

Charlie perked up as she heard her number called and Seth motioned for her to stay put that he would grab her food with his. "You and Seth are real cute. That’s like some couple goals right there." Charlie snapped back to focus at Xavier's comment.

"Shut up Woods." Charlie rolled her eyes, "You sound like Tyler. Always making something out of nothing."

"Oh come on, when's the first date?"

"It's never. Because we're just friends.” Charlie laughed and shook her head. "Drop it."

"She did have someone else ask her on a date though today." Sasha cut in with a giggle.Charlie lightly kicked her leg, hoping she'd get the hint and shut up.

"Thanks for grabbing my food" Charlie thanked Seth as he set down her taco dinner plate and sat across from her. Tyler sat next to her, and E sat next to Seth, his plate almost entirely taken up by a huge smothered burrito. "Holy shit E, that looks delicious." She was hoping their sudden arrival would distract everyone from Sasha's comment.

"Who asked you on a date?" Kofi dashed her hopes of avoiding the comment. "Wait... what's going on?" Tyler looked between Kofi and Charlie, "What are you talking about?"

"Sasha was telling us that someone asked Charlie out on a date right before you guys sat down." Kofi explained. "I'm just wondering who it was."

"Someone asked you on a date?" Seth met her eyes, failing to hide his surprise very well. Charlie felt her stomach twist nervously at the sudden attention from all of her friends. She hadn't wanted them all to know. Both for her own sake and for Dolph's sake.

"Yeah, it's no big deal. It was just a weird thing that happened." She brushed it off and picked up a taco, taking a big bite of it. "Damn Kofi, that is really good." She made a second attempt at changing topics.

"Who asked you on a date?" Seth raised an eyebrow as he studied her. "Is it someone we know?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter."

"Yeah, let's drop it guys." Sasha cut in quickly. "It's no big deal. She's right."

"You brought it up" Xavier burst into loud laughter. "How are you trying to get us to drop it now?"

"That's my bad." Sasha cringed and went back to eating her food. Charlie looked over at her and shook her head when her best friend refused to meet her eyes.

"Seriously Charlie, just tell us who it is. what does it matter?" E took a break from eating to chime in on the current topic.

"You guys are so annoying" Charlie rolled her eyes. They were like the worlds worst broken record. "Fine. Dolph asked me on a date. Like I said... no big deal."

"Oh shit." Xavier cheered with a small fast pump. "Matchmaker Xavier Woods is in the building. Guess Dolph enjoyed that dare I gave you guys huh?"

"Yeah, thanks for that Xavier." Charlie shot back, voice thick with sarcasm.

"What did you say?" Seth cut in. She thought she maybe detected nervousness in his voice, but was sure she was imagining it.

"I said maybe. I told him I had to think about it."

"Holy shit. Charlie is going to go on a date with Dolph Ziggler. I'm not going to lie. I did not see that one coming." Tyler's eyes were wide with surprise as he looked over at her. He looked back down at Xavier, barely holding in his laughter as he met his best friend’s eyes. "Damn Woods. Matchmaker is right."

"I didn't even say yes Tyler."

"You said maybe. That's pretty much yes."

"No it isn't. It's a maybe." Charlie was suddenly wishing there was a hole she could crawl into to hide from this horrible conversation. "Can we drop this?"

"Yeah, we can drop it." Xavier laughed. "That's just too crazy. He really must have liked what he experienced in there huh?"

" _Xavier_ " Charlie snapped, knowing her face was flushing scarlet in embarrassment.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll stop now. I promise." He held his hands up and sounded genuine.

"Thank you." Charlie replied unenthusiastically. "Now if you guys don't mind I'm going to eat my damn tacos now."

"Sorry." Sasha apologized quietly. "I just thought it would be a funny story. I didn't think you'd mind."

"It's fine." Charlie sighed. She felt deflated and barely hungry anymore. She could have done without a full inquisition by her semi intoxicated friends. She didn't want Dolph put on blast either. He was sweet, even if she wasn't necessarily romantically interested in him. She didn't want him to be teased by them about it since she was most likely going to turn him down.

Honestly she just wanted to get back to the hotel. Between Tyler teasing her on the way here about Seth and now all of them teasing her about Dolph she needed a break from them tormenting her about her romantic life.

"Seth, you want to head back to the hotel?" She ignored the surprised looks on most of the table's faces at her question. E and Tyler had both overheard their plans in the car ride here. And Sasha already knew about the last time she'd slept over in his room. She knew they'd all likely know by tomorrow morning I’m anyways so fuck it.

Seth met her gaze and hesitated in confusion for a moment before nodding quickly. "Yeah. Let's go."

"Cool, I'm going to get a box for my leftovers. Call us an uber." She pushed herself up and walked over to the counter for her takeout box.

"Don't leave yet." Tyler pouted. "We're sorry we annoyed you."

"It's not that." Charlie lied. "We just have plans to hangout and watch movies and it's getting late."

"Oh, okay. So you have plans to hangout without us." Xavier frowned, "I'm hurt."

"Sorry, maybe next time we can have a horror movie night in someone’s hotel room instead of going out to a bar or a club." Charlie offered, "But tonight we're just gonna go hangout for a bit."

"Yeah, we'll plan a night." Seth agreed. "The car is here." She was glad that Seth didn't offer for them to join them just because they were guilt tripping them. She was genuinely looking forward to some relaxing movie time with just him.

"See you guys tomorrow." Charlie bent down and hugged Tyler, kissing him on the cheek. "Have fun with your movie night." Tyler grumbled in response.

"Try not to cause any trouble." Charlie teased her friends. "Don't do anything too crazy."

"Yeah right. We'll probably be heading back soon ourselves." Kofi replied, "You better go before the car leaves."

"You're probably right." Charlie glanced outside. "See you guys later." She waved one last time to her friends, laughing as Tyler gave her an exaggerated pout. “Love you Tyler” she blew him a kiss that he waved off with a laugh.

“Yeah, sure you do.” He shot back, his laughter betraying him. “Have fun Charlie.” 


	11. Chapter 11

Charlie grimaced as the cold night air stung her bare skin. "Jesus, it'll be nice to get back to the hotel and to just stay inside where it's warm again." She complained even as she slid into the backseat of the uber waiting on her and Seth.

"Again, a coat would have greatly helped the situation." Seth put an arm around her in the backseat again and rubbed his hands up and down her arms to warm her up. "Especially considering you wore a dress."

"It's a cute dress. And a coat would have been a pain in the butt to carry around."

"It _is_ a cute dress, yeah, but it won't be as cute when you're sick with pneumonia or something."

"Thanks mom, I appreciate it." Charlie rolled her eyes and let out a small laugh at his comment.

"You're especially irritable tonight huh?"

Charlie felt a pang of guilt at his question. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be a bitch tonight, I swear."

"I didn't say you were being a bitch." Seth replied quickly. He met her eyes, his face betraying concern for her. "Is everything okay? You just seem upset tonight."

"I know you didn't say that specifically, but I feel like I _am_ being a bitch and I hate it. I'm just tired of everyone teasing me all the time."

"They do it because you get flustered. You make it too easy for them."

"I know. But it's annoying. I can't help it."

"Next time just brush it off like you don't care and I guarantee you it's not as fun for them."

"Fine. I'll try my best." Charlie agreed with a laugh. "Thanks for the pep talk. Once again, you're great at weird motivational type speeches."

"It was hardly a motivational speech. I'm just giving you the advice my mom gave me to deal with my brother when he used to annoy the shit out of me."

"You're mom sounds like a very smart lady." Charlie laughed, finally feeling more like her usual self again as she joked around with Seth.

"She definitely is." Seth agreed. "She raised two crazy ass kids. So I have to give her all the props in the world for that."

"I can't even imagine." Charlie smiled. "You probably drove her nuts."

"Oh, all the time." Seth agreed with a genuine laugh. "I don't know how she didn't lose her mind solely from always worrying if we were going to break a leg trying crazy backyard wrestling stunts."

"God, you were probably a mom's nightmare."

"I was. My brother told me to jump out of our backyard tree onto my friend who was lying on a table once in a match. So I did, and ended up in the emergency room getting thirty stitches in my back and side."

"But you didn't break anything?" Charlie's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Nope, somehow I managed to only slice my side open really badly. Everything hurt for a long time. But I didn't break anything."

"Sounds like a success to me."

"Yeah, minus the part where I got grounded for a month." Seth laughed again. "My brother got it worse though. She grounded him for three months for instigating it."

"Don't tell me you snitched on him."

"Of course I snitched on him." Seth replied with a huge grin. "I was doped up on painkillers and my mom was yelling at me for being a moron. So I told her it was his idea and skirted the blame."

"God, you're the worst."

"I know. He wanted to kill me."

"I don't blame him. Haven't you ever heard the saying snitches get stitches?"

"yeah well I had already just gotten thirty stitches because of his great idea. So I guess I didn't care any more."

Charlie broke out into loud laughter at his comment. "I guess that's fair enough." Charlie took his hand as he helped her out of the car and she made sure to thank the driver. "You know, you always know how to turn my mood around and make me laugh again."

"I do my best" Seth smiled at her compliment. "For what it's worth you always have a way of putting a smile on my face as well."

"Probably because I always know how to make a fool of myself." She crossed her arms over her chest, attempting to warm herself up once they were in the elevator and headed up to his room. "I can't wait to change into my comfy sweatpants once we get to your room."

"Yeah, once I can get out of this stupid button up shirt I'll be much happier."

Charlie felt her cheeks flush pink as she imagined getting him out of his shirt and had to shake away that mental image."We're really lame huh?"

"Because we'd rather stay in and be comfortable while watching movies?" Seth smirked as he glanced down and met her eyes. "Yes. We're very lame."

"That's okay." Charlie leaned back against the wall of the elevator. "I'm alright with being lame with you." She smiled as Seth's hand brushed over her own as he leaned next to her.

"I'm always willing to be lame with you." Seth admitted softly. His hand traced her jaw, pushing her hair behind her ear and away from her neck. His touch left a warm tingling trail along her jaw and sent her stomach twisting nervously.

She bit her lip as she let her mind wander, imagining him pushing her against the wall of the elevator, his lips crashing against her own. She wished she had it in her to grab him and pull him into her like she wanted to.

But instead she chickened out. Just like she always did every time it felt like there was something between them. "Yeah, well, you'd have to be okay with that if you want to be my friend. I'm pretty consistently lame."

"Don't say that." Seth laughed, the heaviness between them dissipating and the mood returning to normal once again.

"It's okay, I've learned to accept it." Charlie was the first one to head for his room when the elevator doors opened. She needed to get into the hallway and out of the small elevator. She needed a moment to breathe and steady herself again so she could try to push away the thoughts she was having about him.

"You have any ideas for what you wanna watch?" Seth passed her up and pulled his keycard out of his wallet. "or are we going to take forever to choose a movie again?"

"Have you seen the Descent?" Charlie offered easily. She had been thinking of movies they could watch when she couldn't sleep the night before.

"I haven't actually. But I've heard it's good."

"Okay, well they added it to Netflix, I say we watch that. It's actually one of my all time favorite horror movies."

"Sounds good to me" Seth stepped aside and let her into his room first. "You can change in the bathroom, I'll quickly get changed out here."

"Sounds like a plan." Charlie scooped up her back pack she'd dropped off in his room before they went out for the night and ducked into the bathroom. It felt nice to pull the small black dress off and slip into her black joggers and v-neck shirt she'd brought to sleep in.

Next time they went out she was just going to bring a jacket. It was way too cold at night for just a dress. She already missed being further south on tour where she could just wear shorts and a t-shirt all the time.

"Are you dressed?" She cracked the door and peeked her head out.

"Does it matter if you look anyways?" Seth laughed loudly from where he was throwing some of the extra pillows from the bed onto the small couch.

"My bad." she apologized with a laugh of her own. He had changed into basketball shorts but wasn't wearing a shirt. She bit her lip as she admired the way his hips cut a carved out v into where the shorts hung exceptionally low in his hips.

She grabbed the remote and pulled up Netflix to search for the movie as a helpful distraction. "We should watch this one next" She pointed out a movie called the Lost Boys. "That's anther one I love. I wanted to be a punk rock vampire for halloween for like five years straight because of that movie."

"And look at you now, dreams do come true." Seth teased her with a goofy grin. She laughed and threw the nearest pillow at him. " _Wow_ , you're so funny."

"Hey, I thought that was the whole vibe you were going with. My bad."

"You're such a jerk." She shook her head at him. 

"Say it with a straight face."

"I would if I could." She hopped onto the bed and smiled as he whacked her with the pillow she'd thrown at him. "Put that back where it goes." He spoke through laughter when she grabbed it away from him.

She placed the pillow behind her and smiled as he finally sat next to her. "You ready for this movie? It's really good. If you don't like it I might disown you as my friend."

"Guess I'll just have to lie and say I like it regardless."

"Don’t even try it. I would see right through you."

"We'll see I guess." Seth countered with a shrug. "Can I uh- can I actually ask you something though before we start it?"

Charlie studied his expression and felt her stomach twist nervously. She couldn’t read him well enough at the moment to guess what he could want to know. But he looked nervous as well. "Yeah, what do you need to ask?" His eyes betrayed his hesitation and he bit his lip before he let out a deep breath. "Are you going to go on that date with Dolph? I know you didn't want to talk about it, but..." he trailed off and sighed.

"But?" She urged him to continue. She felt her eyebrows scrunch in confusion at his pause.

"I don't think you should do it. That's all." he admitted, "It's kind of been eating away at me a bit since you said it."

"I haven't really thought about it yet" Charlie lied. "Like I said, it kind of just happened and caught me off guard."

"Okay." Seth nodded. She could tell he was going to drop the subject but now it was bothering her as well. "Why is it eating at you? What aren't you telling me?"

"What?" Seth narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What do you mean what am I not telling you?"

"Well why don't you think I should do it? And why is it eating away at you?" Charlie slipped her hand into his and he snapped his attention back up to her. She laced his fingers with her own and squeezed his hand."You know him better than I do. And I trust you."

"He's not a bad person or anything. He's funny and he's nice enough I guess." Seth struggled to figure out what he was going to say. She could see he was spinning his wheels trying to figure out how to explain what he meant. "I just don't think you and Dolph would really be good together. You can do better to be honest."

"Sounds like you're jealous" Charlie laughed. She had meant it purely as a joke to lighten the mood but Seth stiffened at the accusation.

"I'm not jealous." His voice held a defensive edge. "Were you jealous about me kissing Emma? No. So why would I be jealous about Dolph? I just think you can find someone better for you."

"I mean... I _was_ jealous about Emma though." the admission left charlie's lips before she had time to think about it. She felt her stomach sink as Seth's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak but shut it when he didn’t know how to respond.

"Ignore that actually." Charlie felt her face getting hot. "I didn't mean it like that."

"How else could you mean it?"

"I don't know, I just..." Charlie cringed, "It's no big thing. I don't know _why_ I got jealous..." Charlie started to ramble. Charlie flinched as Seth reached over and cupped her jaw with his hand. His touch was gentle, just barely grazing her skin as he urged her to look back up at him.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she met his chocolate brown eyes. "Seth-" She started, her voice growing small and shaky with her nerves. She had ruined everything just like that. One small accidental admission and now it was weird between them. She couldn't believe how dumb she was sometimes.

Before she could figure out what she wanted to say next in an attempt to fix the situation Seth leaned into her. His lips grazed hers softly, just barely meeting hers as if asking for permission.

Charlie hesitated for a split second, knowing there was no coming back from this if it happened. _Fuck it_ she swore internally, letting herself give in to what she wanted for once.

Charlie closed the sliver of distance, pressing her lips to his firmly. Seth reacted quickly, his free hand snaking behind her back and pulling her into to him. The kiss grew from tentative and shy to desperate and passionate in a heartbeat.

Charlie climbed onto his lap, straddling him and kissing him hard as his hand tangled in her hair. All of the dancing around her feelings had only served to build up to this. And it was all coming out in the kiss in a rush of passion.

Charlie parted her lips and deepened the kiss, her tongue slipping into his mouth and earning a growl of desire from Seth.

His hand gripped more firmly on her hip, the other tangling tighter in her hair and she smiled against his lips at the reaction. She took a quick breath before he kissed her roughly again, his tongue seeking hers out hungrily. Seth scooped her up easily and laid her onto her back with him on top of her between her legs.

Charlie sighed as he lowered his lips to her neck and let his hand roam down her side until he scooped up her leg and wrapped it around his waist, his hips pressing down into hers and eliciting a moan from her as he licked and then nipped her neck.

Charlie impatiently pulled him back up to her, desperate to kiss him again. She'd daydreamed about kissing him so often recently and somehow none of it had lived up to the reality of actually kissing him.

Charlie kissed him deeply again, his soft lips serving a stark contrast to the way his beard scraped roughly on her face as he kissed her. She could tell he was holding back. He was kissing her and reveling in the moment but besides brief failings of control he was mostly keeping from doing anything else. But she wanted him. And badly. She could feel the low throbbing between her legs aching for him. For more of him.

Charlie slid her hand up his arm lacing her fingers with his hand for a moment and pulling his hand away from the side of her face. She kissed him harder as she placed his hand over her chest.

Seth paused in surprise and broke away to meet her eyes. "You're sure you're okay with this?" His voice held so much concern, even some doubt.

"I'm more than okay with it." Charlie replied honestly, giving into what she wanted. She _did_ want this. She pushed away the little voice warning her that this could be trouble and knew she had made her decision. Maybe it would cause trouble to have feelings for him. But maybe Sasha was right that sometimes it was worth gambling on things that could be trouble. "I want you Seth."

No sooner had she spoken the words than he reacted. She had thought the rough, desperate kisses were great. But Seth kissed her slow now, lingering and smoldering kisses that only awakened more desire within her until she almost couldn't bear it.

Charlie arched her back up against him as she pressed her leg more firmly around his waist earning a low moan from him against her lips as she moved against his growing hardness. Seth's hands found their way under her shirt and he broke away from kissing her long enough to pull it over her head and throw it to the floor.

His lips lowered to her neck, trailing hot kisses down her neck and chest as he unclasped her bra and threw that to the side as well. "Holy fuck." Charlie swore under her breath and arched her back into him as he took her nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue over her and teasing her gently with his teeth before he kissed her again.

Seth's hand slid down her stomach and hesitated at the waistband of her joggers. "I'm asking one more time. You're sure you're okay with this Charlie?" His eyes searched hers, betraying his genuine concern for her. The fact that he cared enough to check on her again and not rush into fucking her only served to make her fall harder for him and made her want him even more.

"I'm okay with this." Charlie nodded, her heart pounding in her chest at the admission. She closed her eyes and bit her lip as his hand slid his way under her joggers and her panties and his fingers grazed over her, teasing her with light strokes. "Seth" her voice was small, almost pleading for some kind of relief.

He pressed his lips to her neck softly as he slipped two of his fingers inside of her, his palm circling on her clit and earning a low moan as she arched her back in pleasure.

"Jesus" he cursed under his breath, "That's a sound I could used to" he mumbled as he kissed her again. Charlie couldn't help but tilt her head back with another sigh as he picked up the pace of his movements.

"Seth, I want you." She whispered close to his ear before kissing his neck just above his collarbone, gently sucking and effectively slowing his movements down. She traced her hand lightly over the thin material of his basketball shorts to tease him and he let out a sharp breath and his hand slid out of her pants.

"Hold on" He rolled to the side of her and quickly hurried off the bed. "where are you going?" Charlie complained, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt not to feel so exposed.

 _Was he having second thoughts?_ She couldn't imagine how awful she'd feel if he had changed his mind and was going to tell her she needed to leave or something. Seth dug through his bag and smiled as he pulled out a condom. "Sorry." he apologized, "I didn't have them at the ready or anything. I wasn't really expecting to need them." He sat next to her on the bed, his hand lightly grazing her cheek. "Why do you look so scared?"

"I uh... I don't know." Charlie lied, biting her lip as embarrassment washed over her. "I thought you changed your mind." A nervous laugh escaped her lips as she met his eyes.

"Hey" Seth gently tilted her head up to meet his eyes. "I've wanted to kiss you since that first night when you told me off for it and hated me. And it's only gotten worse for me the closer we've gotten and the more I got to know you. I wouldn't change my mind and just get up like that."

"You've really liked me this whole time?"

"Honestly, I thought it was pretty pathetically obvious." Seth laughed, a lopsided smile lighting up his face. "Even all of our friends told me that much."

"Yeah but I didn't _actually_ think you liked me. I figured you just saw me as a friend and they were just teasing us."

"You're really bad at reading signals." Seth laughed and kissed her. He left his forehead pressed to hers as he broke the kiss. "Look, I like you Charlie. It's not exactly a secret on my part. I want this if you do."

Charlie nodded and swallowed the fear bubbling up in her at the idea of how much she wanted it. "I do want you." She spoke softly, her voice wavering with fear.

"You sound terrified." Seth pulled back, his face betraying the doubt her weak admission had caused.

"I _am_ terrified." She admitted. "But I _do_ want this.I want you. And maybe when I'm not shirtless and feeling really awkwardly exposed because of it we can have a more serious talk about it. But for right now I'd really like to pick up where we left off."

Seth laughed and nodded. "That's fair."

"Come here." She reached for the waistband of his shorts and pulled, trying to get him to come back to her. "You really know how to ruin a moment you know that?" She giggled and teased him as he laid her onto her back again.

"Yeah, apparently I do." Seth agreed. "I'll work on that." He slid her pants off first, then her panties. "But first let me work on getting you back into the moment then."

She took a sharp breath as Seth kissed up the inside of her thigh before lowering his head between her legs. "Holy fuck, Seth." She moaned loudly at the unfamiliar sensation of his tongue. It had been a long time since she'd been with anyone. And longer still since anyone had done _this_.

Her hands gripped the covers of his hotel bed tightly and she closed her eyes as intense pleasure rolled over her. He dipped his tongue inside of her and Charlie let out a sharp intake of breath as she arched her back in response to the feeling.

"Seth" She moaned out breathily. She was attempting to beg him to fuck her already but the words were lost by another moan.

"Jesus Charlie" Seth groaned, lifting his head up for a moment, his fingers taking the place of his tongue. "I fucking love hearing you moan my name." he admitted, his eyes giving away his heavy lust.

"Come here" Charlie begged reaching for his hand and pulling him back up to her. Seth wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before listening and lowering his lips to hers, kissing her slowly and deeply.

She could feel his hardened bulge pressing between her legs, straining against his basketball shorts and she pushed her hips up, grinding against him. Seth moaned and his head fell to her neck in response before meeting her eyes again.

"I want you to fuck me." She watched the lust transform his expression at her words and she leaned forward enough to run her hand over his bulge, never breaking his eye contact as she gripped harder and earning another moan. Charlie pushed gently against his chest, urging him to flip onto his back.

Seth pulled her to him as he laid on his back and kissed her hard, his lips crashing against her own intensely. Charlie pulled away and shifted to her knees beside him as she slowly pulled down his shorts, freeing his erection and tossing them to the floor.

"Wheres the condom?" Charlie requested as Seth quickly grabbed it from where he'd left it by the pillows and handed it to her. Charlie smiled as she ran her hand slowly up and down his length, enjoying watching the effect she had on him.

She lowered her head and swirled her tongue over his tip before taking him into her mouth. Seth moaned immediately and his hand tangled in her hair as she slowly sucked and ran her tongue up and down his length to tease him. "Jesus Charlie" his words came out breathy this time, his fingers involuntarily tightening in her hair.

She slowly pulled away and ripped open the condom package, rolling it down his length. Seth pulled her up to him and flipped her onto her back with a quick kiss. He let her wrap her legs around his waist and perched himself at her entrance, slowly sliding into her and letting her get used to his size.

Charlie bit back a moan, her head tilting back with closed eyes at the feeling. "Don't be quiet, I want to hear you." Seth requested, his words only serving to turn her on more. He lowered so he was on top of her, kissing her neck as he thrust into her, slowly at first and quickening the pace as they both grew closer to climax.

Charlie's nails dug into his back as she let out a loud moan. "I'm close Seth." She breathed out next to his ear.

Seth smiled at her and kissed her, pulling her into a deep kiss as he reached down and ran his thumb over her clit, thrusting harder into her until she let out a final loud moan, clutching onto him as she orgasmed.

Seth finished up soon after and once they'd cleaned up he'd cuddled into her, lying halfway on top of her. His head was laid on her chest, tucked into her neck, his strong arms wrapped around her as she ran her hands through his hair. And for the first time in years she felt truly safe in someone's arms.

It wasn't a feeling she was used to any more. In fact, it almost just served to scare her more. In her experience, feelings like this didn't last. The familiar thought of wondering whether he had just wanted to fuck someone crept into her mind and she quickly tried to push it away.

Seth wasn't like that. She knew he cared about her. He'd just made a point of telling her he liked her. Surely he wouldn't tell her that and just fuck her because she was an easy target tonight and already in his bed?

 _No, he wouldn't do that._ She attempted to reassure herself as her heartbeat quickened, the familiar fear setting in.

"What are you thinking about?" Seth's words were so gentle and soft, contrasting her own internal thoughts sharply. He shifted so his head was beside hers on the pillow and kissed her cheek before turning her face to meet his. He clearly read the fear in her eyes easily enough and pressed a soft, reassuring kiss to her lips. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked quietly, his tone more gentle than she'd ever heard it before.

"Nothing." She lied, "Everything is great." She forced a smile. She could feel a heavy sadness starting to take over her as she held his chocolate brown eyes and she desperately wanted to fight it off and stay in this moment with him. She wanted to enjoy it for whatever it was now, not what it could be.

"Hey" Seth's hand cupped her face softly, his eyebrows furrowing together as he studied her. "Charlie, what's wrong? Talk to me."

She sighed and lowered her head to his chest, doing her best to hide the tears stinging her eyes and begging to escape. Seth gripped her tighter, his hand running through her hair to comfort her. "Did I do something wrong? If you didn't want to do this I wouldn't have-" he started a stream of apologies and Charlie lifted her head back up, pressing a finger to his lips.

"You didn't do anything wrong Seth." Guilt washed over her knowing he was worried he'd done something to upset her. "It's me. I'm so sorry."

"Charlie, talk to me. What do you mean it's you? What's bothering you?" She could hear the fear tinging his own voice now. He was looking at her like she was about to slip through his fingers and she felt horrible knowing she was causing that worry.

"I just... I haven't always had the best relationships. And I don't want to ruin this moment, because it was great. Honestly, it was _great_ Seth." She reassured him. "I just get in my head, and then I get scared. And it's nothing you even did. It's _me_. I'm fucked up. You shouldn't have to deal with me." She felt the hot tears rolling down her face and was surprised when Seth clutched her tightly to his chest again.

She probably seemed insane right now. If she had to deal with herself right now she'd probably be kicking herself out and be marking her down as a nut job. But instead he was holding her and trying to comfort her.

"Charlie, relax." Seth spoke slowly, doing his best to soothe her. "I'm right here." He loosened his hold on her enough to tilt her head up to look at him again. "You're not fucked up. Having past relationships make you scared does not make you fucked up. It makes you human."

She wiped away the tears on her cheeks and tried to take steadying breaths. "Talk to me though. Why are you feeling scared?" Seth's thumb was rubbing comfortingly back and forth on her back as he held her and it was a good thing to focus on to try to keep from losing it and crying again.

"I just..." She struggled at finding the right words. "Was this just a fuck to you? Like... did you just want to get laid and I was here and willing?" Honestly the words sounded crazier saying them out loud than they'd sounded in her head.

"Charlie" Seth's eyebrows scrunched together in concern. "That's not at all what this was. Do you really think I would use you like that? If that's what I wanted I could easily find some random girl in town to get a quick fuck in. Do you really think I would do that? That I would lie to you about my feelings to get you in bed with me?"

Charlie bit her lip, struggling with wanting to hide her face again. When he said it it sounded even more outlandish. "I care about you Charlie. When I said I've had feelings for you from the start I meant it. I would never just want to fuck you and toss you to the side. I would never do that to you."

"Promise?" She squeaked out nervously.

"I promise." he held her gaze and smiled at her. "And you know what? For the record, if it was up to me I'd find whatever guys made you feel that way and beat the fuck out of them."

Charlie laughed and felt the sadness actually start to dissipate. She was feeling lighter again, less in her head. "I'm sorry I freaked out." She spoke softly, her lips pressed in a firm line.

"Charlie..." Seth hesitated "I've had feelings for you for a long time. Long before I finally got up the nerve to ask you to ditch everyone and hangout with me that night at the club. I just need you to know that. This wasn't some quick one night stand to me."

Charlie kissed Seth, smiling against his lips as he hugged her tightly against his chest. "Thank you Seth." She mumbled against his lips.

"For what?" He pulled away and kissed along her jaw before meeting her eyes again.

"For not thinking I'm insane." Charlie laughed, "I feel like in most circumstances if a girl started immediately crying and saying she's fucked up after having sex with a guy for the first time most guys would have crazy alarms going off in thier head."

"Oh please. I know you well enough by now to know you're guarded as hell. I'm okay with that. I just want you to let me in when you get overwhelmed like tonight."

"I'll work on that." She agreed. Charlie held out her pinky. "I promise to work on being less guarded with you if you promise not to rush me."

Seth grinned and hooked his pinky with hers. "I wouldn't rush you. You can take your time. But I need you to know I'm here for you." He pressed his lips to her neck in a ghost of a kiss.

"So about this then..." She motioned between them. "I know asking if we can take it slow seems like a joke considering what just happened." Charlie smiled at him. "But can we keep it between us for now?"

"So you don't want anyone to know we hooked up?" Seth raised an eyebrow at her, his own expression growing more guarded at her question.

"Not yet. I want us to be able to see what happens between us without our friends harassing us about it any time we're around them. It's not that I want to hide that I have feelings for you. I just know our friends."

Seth laughed and eased up, shrugging at the idea. "I guess I see what you mean. So you still want to be together? You just want us to keep it between us for now?"

"Until we get to feel confident in it ourselves." She nodded. "Think about it. They've been rushing us into this from the start. If they find out what happened it'll be them pushing us even harder before we even get our footing at trying to be together as more than friends."

"But you _do_ want to be together?"

"If that's what you want." She agreed nervously. "I like you Seth. It's been a while since I've wanted to give anyone a chance. But I can't pretend I don't have feelings for you any more. Because I definitely do."

"I'm glad to hear that." Seth smiled widely. "I'm okay with keeping this a secret for now. As long as I get to be with you. Because I don't think I could just go back to being your friend after that."

"I don't want you to go back to being just my friend." Charlie agreed. "That's the opposite of what I want. I want to be with you. I just want us to get our footing before we get tormented and teased even more."

"You're right." Seth kissed her. His lips capturing hers in a slow, lazy kiss. "Plus, it could be fun sneaking around for a bit." His eyes danced with mischief and she couldn't keep a wide smile off her lips.

"I like the sound of that." Charlie giggled as Seth pulled her on top of him. She cuddled her head into the crook of his neck and planted a quick kiss. "How about we watch this movie now?" She shifted so she was leaning on her elbow and looking down at him.

"I did promise you another movie night" Seth agreed as she clicked play on the movie. "I can't promise I won't get distracted though." he leaned in and gently bit her earlobe before flicking his tongue over it.

"I might like the sound of that." Charlie bit her lip and smiled at the idea.

"Come here" Seth pulled her into his arms, wrapping the blanket over them and letting her cuddle into his arms. She felt her heart race happily as he laced his fingers with her own. And this time she felt safe _and_ happy in his arms. It was a feeling she hoped she could get used to.


	12. Chapter 12

"Another great day everyone" Amy, the head of the glam squad, called out to the crew of girls and guys cleaning up their stations. She had a wide smile on her face as she looked around at them. "You guys have been doing such a great job lately. I just wanted to take a minute to thank you all."

Charlie thanked her along with everyone else and smiled as she finished packing everything at her station up. It was another RAW in the books. There was only an hour left to film for the night and no need to keep all the glam squad department's stuff out. So now she was free to wander until they all hit the road for the next town.

She knew most likely the New Day boys would be in catering already at their usual table to hangout when they had downtime. Sasha probably was as well and they'd agreed to meet there when they were all free.

"I'll see you guys in a bit" She nodded to her friends in the makeup department. "I'm gonna go get some coffee."

She excused herself and slid into the hallway, slipping her phone out of her back pocket. She was about to text Xavier to make sure he was in catering, when someone grabbed her wrist. She jumped at the sudden contact and spun around to see Seth who put a finger over his lips when she went to scold him for scaring her.

He motioned for her to follow him and pulled her down a side hallway and into a room. "Hey" He met her eyes as a sexy smirk played at his lips.

"Hey" she bit her lip as butterflies unsettled her stomach. It had been a week since her and Seth had hooked up and if possible she got worse butterflies around him now than when she had been secretly crushing on him. "What are you doing?" She giggled as he stuck his head out to make sure no one had followed them.

"Just making sure we're clear." He replied before pulling her into a kiss, his strong arms wrapping her tight to his chest. Seth moved quickly, backing her up against the wall of the room, his body flush against hers as he kissed her more forcefully.

"I couldn't wait to see you until we were leaving." Seth mumbled against her neck between soft kisses.

"You don't have to not see me until then you know" Charlie giggled and shook her head at him. "It's more weird if we suddenly stop being around each other. We can still hangout."

"Oh, I know." Seth agreed. "But I couldn't wait to kiss you until then." Charlie smiled against his lips as he kissed her again, his hands clutching the sides of her face as he kissed her.

"Well I can't argue that point." She mumbled between kisses unable to keep the large smile from her lips.

"You know, I was right though, this sneaking around is fun." Seth smirked. "It's kind of hot."

"I agree." Charlie stood on her tip toes and pressed a lingering kiss against his neck, sucking lightly before dropping back down.

"Where should I meet you once we're both done so we can leave tonight?" Seth's hand rested where he was cupping her jaw, his thumb gently stroking over her lower lip before he kissed her quickly again.

"About that..." Charlie sighed and cringed as she trailed off guiltily. Seth frowned as he met her eyes. "What?" he studied her face and his frown worsened "You're ditching me aren't you?"

"Tyler begged me to ride with them tonight. They have some food stop planned I apparently need to try."

"That's so lame. I wanted you to ride with me."

"Okay, but hear me out." Charlie smiled extra large to overcompensate, hoping to ease his disappointment. "I was thinking once we get to the hotel I just sneak over to your room for the night."

Seth's eyes narrowed suspiciously but she could tell he was holding in a smile. "So you're telling me you wouldn't have done that regardless?"

"Nope, I was planning on sleeping in my own room tonight. I can't stay in your room every night."

"You _could_ though." Seth countered. His hands slid behind her and he squeezed her butt and smiled. "I wouldn't say no to that."

"You wish." She laughed and stood on her tip toes again to pull him into a lingering kiss. "If I sneak to your room every night eventually Mona is going to get suspicious and start talking to people about how I'm never around."

"Let her" Seth mumbled. She smiled as he gently kissed her, his lips barely pressing to hers to tease her. Charlie wrapped her arms over his shoulders and kissed him more forcefully.

Seth's hands roamed down from her butt to her thighs and hitched her legs up, picking her up easily and allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist. "Ride with me tonight." Seth mumbled next to her ear before pressing his lips to her neck.

"Seth, I already promised the boys I would go with them tonight when they begged me to."

"But now _I'm_ begging." He stopped kissing her and set her back on her feet. She felt her heart tug with guilt at the pout he fixed her with.

"I would love to go with you tonight and you know that. But those guys are still my friends too." Charlie slid her hand down to lace his fingers with her own. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad at you." Seth sighed and pulled her against his chest in a tight hug. "I just can't get enough of you. I finally get to kiss you and just _be with you_. And I can't get enough of it."

Charlie's heart hammered in her chest harder at his words and she smiled up at him. "I can't get enough of you either. Which is why you can text me your room number and I'll sneak up there when I get to the hotel."

"You promise?"

"I promise. Plus you have all my bags in your car already now so I'd have to find you anyways." She smiled as he laughed. "Sorry to bail last minute though. For real."

"It's fine. I know Breeze is your boy." Seth sighed. "I'll just drive alone."

"You poor thing." Charlie pouted. She giggled at the feigned hurt expression he shot her and kissed him, her tongue parting his lips and deepening the kiss immediately. Seth pressed her back against the wall his hands settling on her hips briefly before sneaking under her shirt.

She could feel him growing hard through the thin basketball shorts he was wearing and smiled against his lips as she got an idea. She pulled back and stopped him from kissing her again, shooting him a mischievous smile. "Turn around" she gently pushed him to turn so his back was against the wall.

"What are you-" he started to ask before she moved to her knees. Charlie pressed a finger to her lips and freed his growing bulge from his shorts, sliding her hand up and down his length as he tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

Once he was ready she took him in her mouth, her tongue swirling around his tip and earning a low moan before sliding down his length again. She tightened her hand around the base, massaging short motions up and down as she sucked.

The sound of his shallow breaths and moans was enough to make her own heart race. She loved hearing the effect she had on him. His hand tangled in her hair as he let out a louder and more prolonged moan. "I'm close Charlie." the admission came out a breathy moan.

She felt him tense up then release as he came and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she swallowed. Seth took a few deep breaths and situated himself before kissing her again.

Charlie smiled as he hugged her to his chest, tucking her head under his chin as she hugged him back and let him catch his breath again. "I'm gonna go meet some of the guys in catering." Charlie pulled back and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "You wanna come?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you there in a few." Seth nodded, "Just wait until later tonight by the way. I'm gonna return the favor and have you changing your mind on staying over in my room all the time."

Charlie bit back a grin and nodded. "Well I certainly won't stop you from trying."

"I can be very persuasive" Seth winked at her, his lopsided grin lighting up his face.

"I don't doubt that. I don't think you'd even have to try that hard to persuade me." Charlie laughed. "I'm already bad at having willpower when it comes to you."

"Except when it comes to ditching me to go on a road trip with Breeze and the boys."

"Yeah except for that." she nodded in agreement before they both burst into laughter again. "Thank you for stealing me away."

"No... thank _you_." Seth laughed as he broke into a wide grin. "And I plan on stealing you away whenever I can. So be prepared."

"I look forward to it." Charlie giggled as he pulled her in again, locking her in another heated kiss. "Alright, I'm gonna go before we get caught hiding out in here by someone. I'll see you in catering."

"I'll see you in there." Seth nodded. "And just know that even though I can't be all over you or holding your hand in front of people. I'll be wanting to be the whole time."

"Well, know I'll be wanting you the whole time." Charlie bit her lip as she saw lust light up his eyes again at her words. Seth grabbed her hand when she moved to leave and pulled her back into him, his lips crashing against her own in an even more heated kiss than before.

"Seth" She giggled against his lips as she tried to break away. "If we don't go someone is going to catch us." She mumbled between kisses, his tongue slipping into her mouth as he kissed her even more passionately.

She swore his kisses had a way of making her whole body weak. She always found herself wanting to just melt right into him. "God damn I like you a lot." Seth admitted, his voice thick with lust.

"I like you too." She felt her chest swell with butterflies at his words. "And I'll see you in catering." She ducked out of his hold and giggled as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush against his chest. "Seth" She tried to sound stern but her voice wavered as he dipped his lips to her neck. "Save it for later." She spun around and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before hurrying out the door. She knew she had to get out or he'd just keep trying to keep her holed up with him in there for even longer.

Charlie smoothed her hands through her hair, ensuring she didn't look like she'd just been making out with Seth in some room. A quick check in the reflection of her phone assured her she looked like her normal self, and with that she finally headed over to catering to meet up with her friends.


End file.
